With the coming of winter, the joys of holidays and travel to family and friends are happily anticipated. However, if you will be spending time at crowded events, it is important to be aware of the impact of COVID-19 and other viruses during these months.
We can still recall how we spent the past three years: masks, social distancing, and even the shutting down of public spaces. Many of us are still trying to overcome the stress and loss brought on by the pandemic.
Recently, the experts have been using the term “tripledemic.” It highlights the potential threat of COVID-19 variants, influenza, and another virus called RSV. The last one refers to “respiratory syncytial virus” which is a type of pneumonia currently attacking children, especially. RSV started early this year and is already filling up children’s hospitals across the country. There is no vaccine for RSV to date. Flu season has also started early this year with nearly 7,000 hospitalizations, and 360 deaths so far, says the CDC.
According to public health experts, while the symptoms of COVID-19, flu and RSV may be mild for some people, the spread of the viruses could be very rapid this winter causing millions of infections that will swamp hospitals.
At the same time as we are being subject to flu and RSV, Andrew Read, an evolutionary microbiologist from Penn State University says that the public’s immunity to COVID is decreasing leaving the public open to infection if not vaccinated and/or boostered.
In September, with President Biden’s statement that in the U.S. the “pandemic is over,” the public turned its attention to leading a normal daily life. We began to forget the past health issues caused by the virus. But in fact, the 7-day average number of deaths in the U.S. from COVID-19 is 358 as of Nov. 4th according to CDC statistics.
With a joint statement released from the World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Control last month, a new wave of COVID-19 is taking place in Europe that includes a new variant BQ.1 and BQ.11. A series of data from the WHO’s COVID-19 dashboard indicates the severity of the virus: 1.14 million new cases were reported the week of September 4th and over 1.79 million new cases were reported the week of October 2nd.
What are the factors contributing to the new pandemic wave in Europe? According to Dr. Albert Ko, an infectious disease specialist and Professor of Public Health and professor of epidemiology, and medicine at Yale School of Medicine, other variants of COVID-19 are spreading around the world now, but the new cases in Europe are still mainly Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5.
“This wave, I believe, is being driven by increased exposures and contact rates, rather than the introduction of a new variant,” said Ko, “We’re releasing ourselves from a lot of those things that kept us protected (during the pandemic). A lot of the factors that are contributing to this wave in Europe are also present here in the U.S…. so I would be concerned that something like this may already be happening here. “
“The ‘pandemic phase’ where our health-care system was swamped — we’re past that, but we’re now in an endemic phase where this virus is going to continue to be with us….We need to keep our guard up,” warns Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, “People who are older, who have underlying illnesses (like heart disease, lung disease, diabetes) and anyone who’s immune- compromised, should continue to wear a mask when they go indoors or in crowds.”
A similar situation is happening with the flu. During the 2018 and 2019 season, flu caused 13 million medical visits, 380,000 hospitalizations and 28,000 deaths. This year, flu’s trend in the U.S. can be predicted by what happened in the Southern Hemisphere between May and October: the flu began earlier this year with increased cases and higher hospitalizations.
So what are the actions that can be taken to protect various groups from the tripledemic? And who are the most vulnerable groups?
The updated bivalent booster targets COVID’s Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 that are still spreading. This booster may afford “some” protection against the latest strains spreading in Europe, the BQ.1 and BQ.11. They are recommended for populations above age five. According to medical experts, even flu shots and COVID-19 vaccines cannot isolate the human body from the virus, but they do offer protection from severe symptoms and death. Experts urge the following groups to be aware of the threats, and to get the vaccines and boosters as soon as possible: older adults, immunocompromised people, pregnant women, and children. Children are especially vulnerable to the viruses as they have spent many months social distancing which reduced their immunity response.
“….I think that we were worried about a flu season last year and thankfully that was not the case,” says Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez, an infectious disease specialist at Tufts Medical Center. We didn’t have as much [of a] flu season, although we did have a long flu season till June basically. And so we’re very watchful of what will unfold these next couple of months with both the flu season and knowing that it’s likely that we will have…because of travel [and] because of weather, a lot of factors that come into play with a COVID surge.”
