Flu, COVID and RSV in Lexington this week
Week ending September 26
Town Branch
ModerateDown
West Hickman
ModerateAbout the same
Week ending September 26
Town Branch
Very LowDown
West Hickman
Very LowDown
Week ending September 26
Town Branch
Very LowAbout the same
West Hickman
Very LowAbout the same
Readings through the week ending September 26, 2026, from Lexington's two treatment plants, last pulled October 5, 2026.
The last 52 weeks
COVID
Flu A
RSV
The charts average the two plants' CDC activity numbers and smooth each line over three weeks, so a single noisy week does not swing the trend. The cards above show each plant's own weekly number.
What these numbers are
Treatment plants test what comes down the sewer for virus, and CDC turns each week's result into a level from Very Low to Very High. The level says how much virus is in the community, not how many people are sick or how sick they are. It tends to move before doctor visits do.
Lexington has two treatment plants and the cards show each on its own, because they do not always agree. Up, Down and About the same compare a plant's level word this week with its level word the week before.
CDC adjusted its category cutoffs in August 2026 and recomputed past weeks to match, so the words on this page are always CDC's current words. This page shows the numbers and gives no health advice.
Where the readings come from
Lexington's readings come from its two wastewater treatment plants.
- Town Branch, which serves the northern and western parts of the city and downtown
- West Hickman, just south of the county line in Jessamine County, which serves most of southern and eastern Fayette County
Under a 2003 contract, West Hickman also takes up to 2 million gallons a day from northern Jessamine County against an average flow near 19 million, so its readings are mostly Lexington with a small share of Jessamine mixed in.
Both plants report to the Kentucky Wastewater Surveillance System, which is part of CDC's national wastewater program, and CDC publishes the data every Friday.
Frequently asked questions
Is flu going around in Lexington right now?
The Flu A card at the top of this page shows CDC's latest level for each of Lexington's two treatment plants, on a scale from Very Low to Very High. Very Low and Low mean little flu virus is turning up in the wastewater, and High and Very High mean a lot of it is. The card also says whether each plant went up, went down or stayed about the same since the week before.
How often does this page update?
CDC publishes new wastewater numbers every Friday, covering the week before. This page pulls them early every Saturday morning, so the cards show the most recent week CDC has released. CDC sometimes revises recent weeks, and the next pull picks those revisions up.
What does a high wastewater level mean?
It means the plant found a lot of that virus in the sewage compared with that plant's usual baseline, as CDC calculates it. It says how much virus is in the community, not how many people are sick or how sick they are. CDC sets where each level word begins and ends, and it adjusted those cutoffs in August 2026.
Why wastewater instead of case counts?
Nearly everyone uses the sewer, including people who never see a doctor or take a test, so wastewater picks up virus that case counts miss. It also tends to rise before doctor visits do. Each sample comes from a whole plant, so it describes the community and never any one person.
Does this page cover the whole state of Kentucky?
No. It covers Fayette County plus the one Lexington plant just over the line in Jessamine County, which is West Hickman. For the rest of Kentucky, the Kentucky Wastewater Surveillance System dashboard shows every plant in the state that takes part.