Comment The United States continues to experience an unusually high and early rise in flu and respiratory syncytial virus infections, straining a health care system struggling to recover from the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. While new cases of the coronavirus have leveled off in recent weeks, federal health officials warned Friday that they are facing high levels of other resurgent viruses as pre-pandemic life returns and many Americans, especially children, lack immunity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a respiratory virus advisory to thousands of health care providers in an effort to boost testing, treatment and vaccination. At least 4,300 flu patients were admitted to hospitals in the week ending Oct. 29, the highest for that time period in a decade and nearly double the previous week, data released Friday showed. Flu season started six weeks earlier this year, at one level not seen since the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic. After two consecutive winters crushed by an influx of Covid-19 patients, US hospitals face the prospect of a third Covid winter — this time, it hit on three fronts. “With increased RSV infections, increasing numbers of flu cases, and the continued burden of covid-19 on our communities, there is no doubt that we will face some challenges this winter,” said Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary of Health and Human Services for preparedness and response, he told reporters on Friday. “But it’s important to remember … that RSV and influenza are not new, and we have safe and effective vaccines for Covid-19 and influenza.” So far, this flu season is more severe than it has been in 13 years Respiratory syncytial virus, a common cause of cold-like symptoms in children, known as RSV, continues to increase nationwide and strain children’s hospitals. Trends vary regionally. RSV appears to be subsiding in the southeast and the mountain west as the flu. There is no vaccine for RSV, but Pfizer plans to seek approval for a vaccine given during pregnancy. Health officials are bracing for the possibility that Covid could overwhelm hospitals again, depending on which new variants become dominant, because governments have abandoned efforts to limit transmission and few elderly people who are more susceptible to serious illness are up to date on the shots. their. Some health officials have described the confluence of influenza, RSV and the coronavirus as a “triplemia.” “Covid has affected the seasonal patterns of all these respiratory infections,” said Tina Tan, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, where RSV cases are on the rise and flu cases are beginning to rise. “Whether the pattern will go back to the way it was before the coronavirus, I don’t think anyone really knows, but it makes it more complicated to provide the care that people need when you have three viruses that can cause serious illness that are on the rise at the same time. “ David Rubin, who tracks respiratory viruses for PolicyLab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said it’s premature to declare a hospital crisis. A youth mental health crisis and a nationwide shortage of children’s beds have made it harder for the health care system to handle the rise in respiratory cases, he said. But adult hospitals are better placed to respond. “It depends on when those peaks happen and how significant a magnitude we see Covid coming back this winter,” Rubin said. “We have yet to see a real acceleration this year in terms of Covid hospitalizations. If you’re looking for a silver lining, this is one.” The US government has medical supplies including personal protective equipment and ventilators available in its inventory, but officials say no state has yet requested additional personnel or supplies. “State and local public health officials are urging parents and families to take precautions now to stay healthy and avoid straining hospital systems,” said Anne Zink, Alaska’s top public health official and president of the Association of State and Territories Health. Officials, in a written statement. These precautions include being up-to-date on vaccines, staying home while sick, and washing your hands regularly. Government recommendations often lack or downplay mask use, a measure that was rarely adopted during previous respiratory virus seasons but has proven effective in mitigating the spread of the coronavirus. Lynn Goldman, dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University who serves on a panel advising CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, asked at a meeting Thursday why agency officials were not recommending coverage because of the pressure on hospitals. “At this point, nothing can be mandated,” Brendan Jackson, the CDC’s director of covid-19 incidents, responded Thursday. Jose Romero, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, cited well-fitting masks at the end of a list of recommended precautions during agency press briefing on Friday. “If a family wishes, they can use masks,” Romero said. RSV, other viruses that make it difficult to find a bed in children’s hospitals Lack of exposure to other viruses when people were social distancing and wearing masks to avoid the coronavirus has contributed to the current situation, experts say. “All of that regular exposure that usually happens that builds immunity year after year didn’t happen,” Walensky said Tuesday during an appearance before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “If you go two years without getting that infection, without getting that protection from infection, and then all of a sudden, everybody from zero to three years gets RSV, you see the impact on health care.” While RSV is one of the leading causes of hospitalization in young children, the virus also poses a greater threat to the elderly and immunocompromised adults. Despite the decline in coronavirus cases, doctors say the medically vulnerable should consider taking increased precautions because of the circulation of other respiratory viruses. “If you’re at higher risk, don’t go into those high-risk areas or don’t wear a mask if you have to go into those areas with an N95,” said Aaron Glatt, chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau in New York. For flu season, the strain on hospitals may not be as debilitating to the health care system if cases are relatively mild and patients are discharged quickly. Lynnette Brammer, an epidemiologist who leads the CDC’s domestic flu surveillance team, said officials have yet to see evidence of a more virulent flu strain. “Right now we’re not seeing anything that would lead us to believe it’s more serious,” Brammer said Friday. “It is early”.
