Experts warn COVID and influenza will be bad this year. Here’s what to do.
Winter is around the corner and health officials are predicting a rough few months with a ‘twindemic’–increased cases of COVID and influenza hitting at the same time and infecting high numbers of people. Although we haven’t experienced a terrible flu season the last two years, this year is different. UC Davis Health says, “Last year, people were worried about a bad flu season on top of COVID, and it didn’t happen because everybody was masking and social distancing. Many things were still closed because of lockdowns. We had historically low rates of influenza and other respiratory virus transmission last year.”
Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Children’s Hospital shares that last year “at UC Davis Medical Center, we didn’t have anybody admitted for influenza last year. In a normal year, somewhere between 40 and 150 kids die from influenza in the U.S., but last year, one child died from influenza. That just shows you how much the masking and social distancing really helped. This year, things are much more open and we are already seeing the transmission of respiratory viruses like influenza in the community. So it’s not going to be the same. People have lost a year in terms of being exposed to influenza and developing some sort of protective immunity.”
According to NBC News, hospitals are already experiencing an influx of patients due to Flu cases are already rising in parts of the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pediatricians, too, are seeing a growing number of children sick with respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and enteroviruses. And despite a downward trend in Covid, tens of thousands of new cases are still being diagnosed every day. The convergence of viruses is hitting health care systems as they’re forced to reckon with staffing shortages that worsened during the pandemic. “If you go around the nation and ask hospitals how busy they are, every single one of them will tell you: They’re busy,” said Dr. Carlos del Rio, an executive associate dean at the Emory University School of Medicine and Grady Health System in Atlanta.”
Being healthy is vital for staying safe this winter season and Eat This, Not That! Health spoke to experts who share what to know about COVID right now and how to help avoid it. Read on—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don’t miss these Sure Signs You’ve Already Had COVID.