Flu rages while COVID and RSV cases also rise: vaccinations

Even if flu cases are increasing, it is not too late to get vaccinated.

Nam Y. Huh/AP

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Nam Y. Huh/AP

The winter holiday rituals are behind us. It is cold and snowy in many places. And now, unfortunately, we are faced with another annual tradition.

“Respiratory season is here,” says Dr. Brendan Jackson, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “It’s in full swing now, a lot of people are getting sick, a lot of people are missing work, school and just feeling bad.”

Over the holidays, people enjoy traveling and meeting up with family and friends. The bad news is that this often means they come home with a nasty bug. And we’re right back in the middle of it all.

“It’s ugly out there right now,” said Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist who writes the newsletter “Your Local Epidemiologist.”

The flu, in particular, is at high or very high levels across the country, according to the CDC.

“We are buried with influenza. “Things are very, very busy and intense,” says Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease researcher at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. “The emergency room is full of people coughing and sneezing. We had people waiting on stretchers – these stretchers – to be admitted. We’re really full.”

RSV and COVID-19 are increasing

And it’s not just the flu. RSV is also still spreading at a very high rate. And now COVID-19 is starting to surge again.

“Before we had two big viruses that caused a lot of hospitalizations and deaths with RSV and flu,” Schaffner says. “Although COVID is no longer in emergency status, it still causes more hospitalizations and deaths than the other two. So when you add it all up, every respiratory season going forward will be, on average, worse than before the pandemic because of…”the addition of COVID.”

Nobody knows how bad things could get this winter. The CDC says it looks like this winter will be like last year unless an even more transmissible new COVID-19 variant emerges.

But that’s not great – it still means lots of children miss school, parents miss work, and grandparents and other vulnerable people end up in hospital and even dying.

“We are dealing with three viruses whose peak values ​​will be relatively close to each other. “That means when one starts to decline, the other will peak,” says Dr. Andrew Pavia, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Utah. “And we’re just not going to get a break, like a series of snowstorms. I think that means we’re in for a pretty miserable January before things die down.”

But even then, there will likely be a long road ahead, says Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University who wrote the book Crisis avertedabout pandemics.

“The winter season for respiratory viruses often peaks in December or January,” Rivers says. “But it lasts into the spring months. So I think we still have a few weeks, if not months, of this sick time left.”

Take precautions, including vaccinations

Rivers and others recommend people wash their hands frequently, wear a mask in crowded places and, of course, get vaccinated. The flu and COVID-19 vaccinations aren’t perfect, but they’re both still pretty good at keeping people out of the hospital and dying, especially the elderly and others who are at risk. Most people have not yet received any of these vaccinations, but it is not too late.

It also doesn’t hurt to get tested to see what error someone has. New tests, available without a prescription for the first time this year, allow people to test for flu and COVID-19 at home. This could help their doctors decide more quickly whether they need antiviral medication.

All of this is on top of other common infections, says Dr. Sean O’Leary, professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases. For example, mycoplasma pneumonia, which can cause “walking pneumonia,” and whooping cough are still common.

“Unfortunately, we’re seeing a lot of that this year,” says O’Leary.

HMPV cases in China are not uncommon

There is another respiratory virus that has gained attention: human metapneumovirus (HMPV). This is because China is reporting an increase in HMPV in the north.

However, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday that HMPV levels in China were neither unusual nor a burden on the health system.

“WHO is in contact with Chinese health authorities and has not received any reports of unusual outbreak patterns,” the WHO said in a statement. “Chinese authorities report that the health system is not overwhelmed and there have been no emergency declarations or responses.”

Other infectious disease experts say they’re not too worried about HMPV. This virus, related to RSV, has been around for decades, so many people are immune to it.

While HMPV can cause serious complications such as pneumonia, it usually only causes a cold. HMPV is spreading at low levels in the United States. But experts emphasize that HMPV does not appear to pose nearly the threat of the flu and COVID-19, which still kill hundreds of people each week, according to a report released Tuesday by the CDC.

“We’re following this closely,” says Jackson of the CDC’s HMPV. “I have to say that the level here in the US is really at a typical level for this time of year. Compared to previous seasons, nothing has gotten out of hand.”