Ahead of the holidays, there was fear in certain medical circles that holiday gatherings among millions and millions of families across America would spark a dangerous surge in respiratory diseases.

Now, new U.S. government data suggests that was not the case.

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that visits to doctors’ offices for flu-like illnesses fell for the sixth straight week.

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"Seasonal influenza activity continues but is declining in most areas," the CDC wrote on its website.

The CDC also said that reports of RSV, a common cause of cold-like symptoms that can be serious for infants and the elderly, are also down.

In the fall, when flu and RSV cases surged and caused overloads at pediatric emergency rooms, some doctors feared winter might bring a so-called tripledemic of flu, RSV and COVID-19. 

They were concerned that holiday gatherings might be the spark. But it apparently did not occur. 

"Right now, everything continues to decline," said the CDC’s Lynnette Brammer.

She leads the government agency’s tracking of flu in the United States, according to the Associated Press.

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RSV hospitalizations have been going down since November — and flu hospitalizations are down, too.

That doesn't mean some people haven't gotten sick. 

Plenty of families reported that at least one or more of their members came down with something over the holidays after group get-togethers.

The situation is uneven across the country, the Associated Press reported — with some areas seeing more illnesses than others. 

But some doctors say patient traffic is easing.

"It has really eased up, considerably," Dr. Ethan Wiener, a pediatric ER doctor at the Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone in New York City, told the AP.

Dr. Jason Newland, a pediatric infectious disease physician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital in Missouri, also told the outlet that "it has slowed down, tremendously."

Newland said he wasn’t surprised that flu and RSV continued to trend down in recent weeks — but added, "The question is what was COVID going to do?"

COVID-19 hospitalizations rose through December, including during the week after Christmas, the CDC said.

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One set of CDC data appears to show they started trending down after New Year’s, although an agency spokeswoman noted that another count indicates an uptick as of last week. 

Because of reporting lags, it may be a few weeks until CDC can be sure COVID-19 hospitalizations have really started dropping, Newland told the AP.

He also said there was an increase in COVID-19 traffic at St. Louis Children’s in December.

But he noted the situation was nothing like it was a year ago, when the then-new omicron variant was causing the largest national surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations since the pandemic began.

"That was the worst," he said.

This past week, Dr. Marc Siegel, a Fox News medical contributor, told Fox News Digital that the relatively new COVID-19 omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 "is the most easily transmissible subvariant so far."

He said that "it not only binds well to cells, but it is also the most immunoevasive." Siegel is a professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.

The subvariant — nicknamed "Kraken" by some — is spreading across the globe, too. 

Maria Van Kerkhove, Ph.D, technical lead of the World Health Organization, said XBB.1.5 is "the most transmissible subvariant that has been detected yet," WebMD reported.

Though this subvariant continues to spread at a faster pace than other versions of COVID-19 did, the CDC recently revised downward its estimate of how much XBB.1.5 is circulating in the U.S.

The fall RSV and flu surge was felt most acutely at health care centers for children. 

Wiener said the pediatric emergency department traffic at Hassenfeld was 50% above normal levels in October, November and December — "the highest volumes ever" for that time of year, he said, according to the AP.

The RSV and flu surges likely faded because so many members of the vulnerable population were infected "and it just kind of burnt itself out," he said.

It makes sense that respiratory infections could rebound amid holiday travel and gatherings — and it’s not exactly clear why that didn’t happen, Brammer said.

With all that said, flu season isn’t over, the AP pointed out. 

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Thirty-six states are still reporting high or very high levels of flu activity, it noted.

It’s always possible that a second wave of illnesses remains up ahead, experts said.

The CDC continues to recommend that everyone "six months and older" get the flu vaccine.

"An annual flu vaccine is the best way to protect against flu. Vaccination helps prevent infection and can also prevent serious outcomes in people who get vaccinated but still get sick with flu," the CDC says on its website.

The Associated Press contributed reporting. 

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson acknowledges that his two trips this week to Iowa — the state whose caucuses for a half century have kicked off the GOP presidential nominating calendar — are a sign that he’s seriously considering a White House run.

"Going to Iowa probably does send some signals that your serious about looking at 2024," Hutchinson, who just completed serving eight years as governor, told Fox News.

Hutchinson was interviewed during his Thursday-Friday swing to the Hawkeye State, where he attended Gov. Kim Reynolds second inaugural, and also met with other GOP leaders to help celebrate Republican victories in Iowa in November’s midterm elections. Hutchinson was also in Iowa on Monday, when he addressed a GOP legislative breakfast.

The term-limited governor was succeeded Tuesday by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, as the former White House press secretary during then-President Trump's administration and the daughter of former longtime Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was inaugurated.

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Hutchinson said his trips this week "give me an opportunity to listen to Iowans and their leaders about the challenges they face and also solutions that they’re looking at."

The conservative former governor argued that President Biden’s "failed polices" have exacerbated the "border crisis and fentanyl that hits Iowa." And he also pointed high interest rates, which he blames on what he calls "Biden’s economic failures."

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Hutchinson called the reception he received from Iowans "very welcoming," and he highlighted the "connections between an ag state like Arkansas and Iowa, and all that we share together in terms of issues that we face — many of the same values are shared by the communities here. So there’s a real connection."

His trips this week to Iowa follow a Nov. 16 stop, when he addressed the Westside Conservative Club in Des Moines. He also paid two visits last year to New Hampshire, which holds the second contest in the Republican Party’s presidential nominating calendar. His trips included an April trip to headline the "Politics and Eggs" speaking series at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, a must-stop for White House hopefuls. He’s also traveled to South Carolina, which votes third in the Republican schedule.

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A former federal attorney turned two-term congressman who served as Drug Enforcement Administration administrator and Department of Homeland Security undersecretary during then-President George W. Bush’s administration, Hutchinson touts that he’s a "consistent conservative."

Hutchinson, who steered the National Governors Association last year, has been mulling a 2024 White House run for months. He said in a Fox News Digital interview last summer that he wants a role in helping to shape the future of the GOP and "that might lead to a presidential campaign down the road." 

Asked about his timeline, Hutchinson said this week that "I don’t think we have to set an artificial time frame." But pointing to the likelihood of presidential forums in the early voting states as early as April and debates possibly starting in July, he added that "there is a practical time frame that you look at."

"The decisions would need to be made early in the second quarter or sometime in the first quarter," he emphasized. "I’m not setting an artificial timeframe — I’m wanting to make sure that if I did become a candidate that there would be the kind of financial support that’s needed."

"You measure the response to our vision and your message for America as well as making sure that you can be a strong candidate if you did jump in. That’s what I’m doing now," he explained.

Former President Donald Trump is already in the GOP presidential nomination race, and there’s a strong possibility that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and former South Carolina governor turned former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley also end up running for the Republican nomination.

Asked how someone like Hutchinson could compete with bigger names larger war chests, the former governor said "you’ve got to work hard and that’s what’s attractive about a place like Iowa. They like to look you in the eye and make a decision. It’s a land of retail politics, which I’m accustomed to. It’s getting to know people and their challenges and presenting your case to them. That’s the beauty of American democracy."

And Hutchinson emphasized that his decision on running won’t be dependent on any other actual or potential presidential candidate.

"We’ll make our own decision," he said.