Why is the Flu, RSV, and Covid causing so many deaths and injuries in the United States? The impact on children, coworkers, and hospitals

The number of positive tests for the flu in the US increased to 25 percent in late November from 8 percent at the same time last year. Respiratory syncytial virus has added to capacity at some children’s hospitals. And Covid hospitalizations are rising again. The tripledemic that was feared by epidemiologists was actually the result of a number of seasonal recurring viruses conspiring to cause illness. So if your kids, your coworkers, and everyone you know has been feeling sick, that’s why.

The problem goes beyond making everyone feel sluggish and icky. CDC director Rochelle Walensky has confirmed that the flu, RSV, and Covid are putting stress on US hospital systems. Measures that sought to save lives yielded a reduction in the spread of flu and respiratory infections in 2020 and 2021. There was a warning sign in the summer of 2021, when there was a spike in the number ofRSV cases in the US, it was an indicator that things were changing in the wake of Covid. Now these viruses are roaring back, and hitting a burned-out health care system that’s spent three years treating Covid infections.

Young children who have not been exposed to these Viruses are at high risk of contracting them. The older and theimmunodeficiency people are at higher risk. Dropping guards isn’t recommended by experts. They note that masking measures helped throw off other viruses from their historical patterns. “By doing that, you prevent all these other things that are less infectious typically,” says Mary Krauland, a research assistant professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh. People are more susceptible over time.

RSV typically causes mild illness, but it can prove particularly dangerous to young children whose small lungs cannot cough forcefully enough to clear mucus. Nearly all children contract the virus before the age of 2. There is a sudden surge in kids getting sick, and hospitals are overwhelmed by it. In the United States, hospitalizations for kids 4 and younger spiked to 61 per 100,000 in mid-November, according to data from the CDC. That rate peaked at 26 young children per 100,000 in the 2019 to 2020 RSV season. Some hospitals are short of beds for children. Because Covid largely spared children from severe illness, some hospitals pivoted, opening spaces designated for kids up to adults. Some of those beds never went back.

Why We Shouldn’t Wear a Mask When We’re Inside the House: A Reply to Fauci on the Covid-19 Triple Threat

“Most Americans have had a practical attitude towards masking and mask requirements,” Chris Jackson, senior vice president of public affairs at Ipsos, told me in an email. “When people felt at risk of COVID they wore masks and were supportive of requirements. Most people think the risk to them is low and few are wearing masks.

The current rise in Covid-19 cases is a part of a triple threat, which also includes a bad flu season and an outbreak of the children’s vaccine, rSv.

Those warnings come just as the federal government moves in the opposite direction with vaccines. The House passed a defense bill on Thursday that removes a requirement for members of the military to have a Covid vaccine.

Los Angeles County is at a high Covid-19 community level, but it hasn’t hit all three indicators that would trigger a mask mandate, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday.

Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, told reporters that about 5% of the population lives in a high spread county. CDC’s data indicates two-thirds of Americans live in areas with low transmission, but that cases are rising.

Walensky said the most important protection for people against the triple threat is to stay up to date on Covid-19 vaccines and boosters and to get an annual flu shot. Please, stay at home when you are sick.

The outgoing Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci, talked about the need to mask up when he briefed the White House in late November.

He reiterated that sentiment in an exit interview with NBC News, where he suggested that people should mask where appropriate, but was careful to say it’s only a recommendation.

“I’m not talking about mandating anything,” Fauci said Wednesday on “NBC Nightly News.” I’m talking about common sense, saying, ‘You know, I really don’t want to spread the disease to someone who is vulnerable in my family.’ “

“No, it shouldn’t be,” Fauci said. Sometimes when you walk in and nobody is wearing a mask, you feel guilty. You should not feel guilty.

More than two-thirds of Americans wore a mask not often or never outside the home. Just 14% said their employer required mask wearing.

This will be the dilemma for public health officials if the tripledemic continues along with how to make people wear masks without making them do it.

The last time Ipsos asked about support for mask requirements was in July, when 45% supported local government requirements, down from more than two-thirds support in January 2022.

Many people no longer wear masks after the requirement has been ended and now some of the nations leading health experts are encouraging people to put on their masks again.

Covid-19 community level metrics revisited: How do we know the CDC is looking at the case of a double outbreak in New York?

I don’t want to go to mandates because I think people will ignore it over most of the United States. Public health recommendations have to be acceptable,” he added.

She said that the county had 258 new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people but still hasn’t gone to the high level of staffed Covid patient beds.

We have reached a threshold where the CDC has told us that we need to worry about our hospital system, but they haven’t reached that level yet, and it’s creating a lot of risk. And the time to mitigate the risk is actually now,” Ferrer said.

Each community has been looking at the same information, and may have to consider universal masking again if they hit high levels.

“Now, I say all that based on the pure facts of the guidance, but I do think that has the possibility again of turning into a political divide in community by community where elected officials and others may or may not wish to see universal masking reimplemented. But we will have to see if that legal divide enters the picture again,” she said. “There’s not a lot of appetite for some of these original mitigation efforts to be reimplemented.”

According to the letter, the flu hospitalizations in New York have doubled over the course of the past three weeks.

“In response, we are urging a community-wide approach, inclusive of schools, to again take precautions this holiday season and winter that can prevent the spread of respiratory viruses and protect young children, older individuals, and those with underlying health conditions,” the commissioners wrote.

The CDC’s Covid-19 community level metrics for US counties are based on three things: new Covid-19 hospitalizations, hospital capacity and new Covid-19 cases. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the agency said Monday that the agency was looking into revisiting the community levels in a way that included data on other respiratory viruses.

We are looking into it at the CDC. She said that one need not to wait for the CDC to act in order to put a mask on.

About 1,800 Covid-19 deaths were reported to the CDC in the last week of November, and ensemble forecasts that predict Covid deaths will remain steady for the next month or so.

New York City, New Jersey, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that people in areas with high COVID-19 community levels wear masks

According to Walensky, the orange color on the center’s map indicates an area that has a high level of infections.

“To protect communities in those circumstances at those high levels, we have recommended and continue to recommend that those communities wear masks,” she said.

The map released Friday included at least one county with the high or medium COVID-19 community level. Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia are the only U.S. jurisdictions where all of its counties have low community levels.

In New York City, health commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan on Friday advised New Yorkers to wear face coverings inside stores, public transit, schools, child care facilities, and other public shared spaces, especially when they are crowded.

UC San Diego Health was overwhelmed and had to set up tents in the parking lots and use other unconventional spaces to give them more space to care for patients. There are temporary beds available for patients who were admitted to the ED but are waiting for a hospital bed.

More than 77% of hospital beds nationwide are occupied, down slightly from nearly 80% earlier this month, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services — the highest levels seen since last winter’s omicron surge.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, no state is experiencing a low level of respiratory virus activity. The CDC advises that people in areas with high Covid-19 community levels wear a mask.

Smith said that they have seen a decline in the animal. “That has overlapped this Covid rise, which has happened a little bit slower and a little bit later, and then now is superimposed by this very rapid rise in influenza.”

What are your top priorities for the holidays? Dr. Edward Jones-Lopez, an infectious disease specialist at Keck Medicine, Southern California

“The most powerful factor by far is probably the vaccines, but the other one is the cumulative number of infections we have all had which is now called natural immunity,” said Dr. Edward Jones-Lopez, an infectious disease specialist at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California.

“Unfortunately, there’s still about a third of the country … where despite all the evidence of safety and efficacy, people are still not getting vaccinated,” he said.

There are vaccines for both Covid and the flu, but not for RSV. Testing is needed to determine which illness is caused by the same symptoms that all three of theviruses present, and whether or not to treat it.

Jones-Lopez said that she had seen one case of three infections at the same time. “These are independent viruses that can infect the same individual and, obviously, the more viruses, the more infections you have … the higher the risk of one of them leading to more serious disease.”

Smith encourages elderly people or those with infections that can make them immunocompromised to wear a mask. “It’s the best protection that we have for anyone else who is concerned about transmission.”

“Everyone is obviously ready to do as much as they can that they have done in normal holiday periods, especially as many of us have given it up for a couple years,” said Dr. Henry Wu, an epidemiologist and travel doctor at Emory University. “We’re entering a new normal where we have to navigate how best to do what we want to do.”

Now’s the time to look ahead and think about what plans you have for the holidays, Wu said. Which are the top priorities for you? Who do you want to see?

A Simple Rule of Thumb for Stay Home if You’ve Been Vaccinated for Covid-19: Implications for Family and Individual Safety

Some people may feel totally comfortable getting together at a bar. Others, not so much. “If you want to protect vulnerable people like elderly or baby from contracting a disease, then you should incorporate some of the lessons from the last few years,” he said.

It’s possible to decide whether to take safety measures by thinking through those questions. Every family and individual will be a bit different, according to Wu.

Pfizer and Moderna make the booster shots for the CoVID-19, and they are available to most Americans. And for those who need or prefer a non-mRNA shot, the Novavax vaccine is available as a booster to adults who completed an initial vaccine course at least six months ago.

The flu shot take-up has been low. The CDC says that only a quarter of American adults have received a vaccine. Those who haven’t gotten their shot yet should seek one soon, said Dr. Preeti Malani, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Michigan.

He encourages Americans to follow this simple rule of thumb, especially if you have Covid-19: If you are feeling sick, stay home.

The risk of getting HIV from someone who is not showing symptoms is lower than it is from someone with symptoms, according to a review of 130 COVID studies published earlier this year.

COVID tests are popular this year, and if you don’t feel well, get tested. A flu test can be arranged by health care providers.

Respiratory diseases such as COVID have a difficult time spreading outdoors, where natural airflow is remarkably effective at dispersing droplets and pathogens.

Not all of it can be moved outdoors. Many social gatherings and religious services will be indoors. Spending a lot of time indoors is inescapable for family members who travel long distances to see each other.

The White House urges us all to take precautions against Covid-19 during the holidays, and why we should take extra care during the winter

For more flexible plans, like catching up with an old friend from high school, you could consider outdoor activities if the weather allows — like a walk in the park, ice skating or strolling an outdoor holiday market, rather than getting together at a bar or restaurant.

Gandhi suggested doing what you could to improve the quality of the indoor gathering. If it rains, open the windows. If not, HEPA filters, cracked windows and ceiling fans can help too.

“That’s the strongest non-pharmaceutical intervention that’s been revealed since the epidemic, because it eliminates all respiratory pathogens,” she said.

a lot of people are sick right now, especially in crowded indoor areas like the subway or airplane So put that mask on,” Malani said.

“I think a mask is not that hard to do,” he said. “I really encourage folks to keep that mask handy and use it” when you find yourself in a crowded and poorly ventilated indoor space.

For Americans across the country preparing to gather and socialize with family and friends during the end-of-year holiday season, the White House has a clear warning: Covid-19 is not over, and you had better protect yourself.

In an interview with CNN, White House Covid-19 response coordinators Dr. Ashish Jha spoke about the importance of preparing Americans ahead of a possible increase in Covid-19 cases this winter.

The Biden administration renewed its push to encourage people to use all of the necessary tools available to prevent Covid-19 at bay, which included getting vaccine and boosting their immunity, making use of treatments and masking up as needed, and using tests and treatments when necessary.

As a part of its new push, the administration is restarting the free at-home Covid-19 test program, permitting each American household to order up to four free tests this winter from COVIDTests.gov. Federal resources are being offered to the local health departments, which include a winter playbook for nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, as well as permitting nursing home staff to administer vaccinations.

Data over the last few weeks shows a rise in Covid-19 cases, probably because of the start of the winter holiday season and the Thanksgiving holiday.

“If somebody gets vaccinated tomorrow, they will have some protection by Christmas. But it’s not like Christmas Day is the last day people socialize over winter,” Jha said. Getting a vaccine as quickly as possible is necessary so you have the protection you need.

The CDC has guidelines for how an individual should react if they test positive for Covid-19, as well as isolating others if they catch the flu, compared to what one should do if they catch the srsV. Jha said that has to do with the fact that the spread of RSV and the flu largely happens when a person is symptomatic, whereas Covid-19 can be transmitted a lot more even when a person is asymptomatic.

In other words, don’t cough your way through a family holiday dinner even if you don’t believe you have Covid-19: “You don’t know what virus you have and there’s no value in spreading it to other people,” Jha said.

The bodily fluids hung in the air like a certified holiday wrecking ball. I imagined that in a matter of days that single exhale had turned into a chorus of coughs and sneezes backed by a nose blowing percussion and infecting all bystanders, myself included.

There’s not a place I’ve been in the past few days — public transportation, the supermarket, school, the office — where someone hasn’t been hacking, glassy-eyed, congested or hoarse.

The increase in the number of illnesses in our schools and towns is due to vaccine fatigue. Even though we know better, we can’t do what we’re supposed to.

Dr. Miriam Davis said in an email that people start tuning out when they are physically and mentally exhausted after a high-stress situation. Tuning out is a psychological defense mechanism used to protect oneself from anxiety or discomfort that is similar to denial.

Why Don’t You Bring Grandma to the Hospital? Indications of Self-Preserved Health in Epicenters of Cosmic Epidemics

So few people are masked, even in epicenters like New York City, which had to install portable refrigerators in hospital parking lots to stack the overflow of bodies of loved ones, neighbors and friends taken by the first waves of the pandemic back in 2020.

Why would you want to bring grandma to the hospital this Christmas? You can choose from a dragonfly broach, tea service, or Agatha Christie box set. Speaking of grandma, nursing homes have failed to keep pace with life-saving preventive care. Only 50% of nursing home residents and 25% of nursing home workers have received their covalent boosters.

Put your snotty noses behind a mask if you have to go out. Better yet, stay home if you can. Sickness doesn’t go away if you pretend it isn’t in the air. The demise of Plausible Deniability does not have to be our legacy.

She said you should wash your hands frequently after touching high-touch surfaces. If you are sick or cough a lot, stay home. And people at high risk for severe outcomes from viral illnesses should wear an N95 or equivalent mask while in indoor spaces.”

How to break through the psychological trauma of surviving a pandemic while remaining socially responsible and not throw caution (and your N95 mask) into the wind? According to Dr. Mirela Loftus, practicing moderation is important.

“We can exercise our individual rights when it comes to decisions about our own health, while being mindful that we often do things to protect others – drive the speed limit to avoid an accident, shovel the snow on the sidewalk so our neighbors don’t fall,” she said.

It’s reasonable for people to take small steps in care of others, but I’m not going to hold my breath. (Well, unless you’re not masking.) I would swap my Christmas presents for air-tight hazmat suits and gas masks, so my family can survive the winter without being exposed to any dangers.