U.S. facing a potential ‘tripledemic’ of flu, RSV and COVID-19?

We have ourselves a trifecta of infections!  Or now, what is being called a potential “tripledemic”!

As of last week, RSV and flu have been spiking. Yesterday, Oct 31st, the CDC reported that the cumulative flu hospitalization rate has hit a 13-year high, with nearly 7,000 hospitalizations in the U.S. (ref 3). Flu has caused 880,000 illnesses and 360 deaths this season which started early October (ref 3). 75% of all the ~40,000 pediatric beds have been filled (ref 1, 2)

William Schaffner, MD, professor of infectious diseases at Nashville-based Vanderbilt University School of Medicine told the Washington Post that flu is early and looks very severe! (ref 4)

COVID-19 infections have not yet begun to spike. But the virus has started to pick up around Thanksgiving the prior 2 years (ref 1). However, COVID-19 hospitalizations increased last week after 2 months of decline (ref 3).

So, is COVID-19 on the move for the 3rd straight year? And will it have company with flu and RSV? You can read about the RSV spike here.

Dr. Deanna Behrens, a pediatric critical care physician at Advocate Children’s Hospital in suburban Chicago has said, “There is no one virus that’s causing pediatric respiratory viruses this fall, unfortunately, it’s all of them.” (ref 2)

Below is a map of flu activity by state. (source NBC news, ref 3)

References:

1)     ABCnews.go.com

2)     NBCnews.com

3)     Becker’s Hospital Review

4)     Washington Post

IF YOU ARE A CLINICAL LAB, you should be prepared with spikes in FLU and COVID-19 testing!

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