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The toll of respiratory virus season is uneven across the country, cresting in some states and receding in others. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says levels of overall respiratory illness are high across most of the Sun Belt and in New York City and New Jersey, largely driven by flu and respiratory syncytial virus, widely known as RSV.
In Louisiana, designated by the CDC as one of two states experiencing very high respiratory illness, the primary driver is flu, which health officials say usually peaks this time of year. Covid is more unpredictable and is creeping up again just weeks after a fall surge waned.
“We can continue to expect periodic flare-ups and expect them to continue to have low clinical acuity,” said Joseph Kanter, Louisiana’s fitness manager. “Unless we get a variant that’s a true curve, it’s going to turn out to be the norm, and we’re grateful for that. “
Last year, children’s hospitals faced a devastating wave of RSV, which can be harmful to young children, especially infants, and some were overwhelmed. This year, RSV seems to have leveled off and peaked nationally, though the season is just getting started in some states.
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, a pediatric fitness system, has noticed a quiet drop, with RSV declining after a peak in October and the coronavirus circulating at low levels, even though the flu is on the rise.
“We’re trending toward a more general seasonal pattern,” Andi L. said. Shane, Pediatric Infectious Disease Specialist and Medical Director of the Hospital Epidemiology System.
CDC Director Mandy Cohen suggested Americans get vaccinated, especially before the holiday season; ordering loose at-home coronavirus tests; and adopt the same precautions as always, adding normal hand washing, opening windows to ventilate and wearing a mask.
“The main way for other people to be proactive is through vaccination, period,” Cohen said in an interview.
This is the first respiratory virus season in which some Americans are possibly immune to all three major pathogens. For the first time, all newborns and adults 60 and older can receive the RSV vaccine. An updated coronavirus vaccine targeting newer variants are available.
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However, the vaccination rate remains low. Based on surveys, the CDC estimates that 8 percent of children, 17 percent of all adults and more than a third of seniors have received the novel coronavirus vaccine. About 16 percent of older adults have received the RSV vaccine, although estimates are it is not available for young children. The flu vaccine remains the most popular: 40 percent of adults received it in December, the same as last year.
Health officials and experts offer varying explanations for the lack of uptake. There’s a shortage of monoclonal antibodies that act as a vaccine by preventing severe RSV disease in young children. The federal government no longer buys and distributes all coronavirus vaccines, meaning some doctors no longer stock them, and some pharmacies may not be part of certain insurance networks. And some Americans could just be tired of getting shots.
What’s at stake is that older adults, the oldest organization, are more likely to be hospitalized and die from a respiratory illness.
“Since the pandemic, there has been an increased attention on the need for older adults to get vaccinated at different times, at different schedules with different boosters,” said James McSpadden, senior policy adviser at AARP’s Public Policy Institute. “As a new vaccine rolls out, there could be some level of fatigue.”
Cohen, who is on a national tour to promote vaccination, said many Americans haven’t incorporated an annual Covid shot into their routines like they do with the annual flu shot.
“We want to remind other people that the virus has replaced and continues to change,” Cohen said. “We need an updated vaccine that adjusts to changes in the virus. “
1/5
The CDC is paying close attention to the immediate spread of the JN. 1 variant to other variants, suggesting that it is more transmissible or evades greater immunity. It’s a branch very similar to the BA. 2. 86 variant that has worried scientists because of an unusually higher number of mutations that made it adept at evading immune protections.
Wastewater surveillance indicates that coronavirus levels have risen over the past month in much of the country. Biobot Analytics’ tracking indicates that the largest increases are in the Northeast and Midwest, with a slight decrease in the West.
Cohen said it’s tricky to assess whether the coronavirus surge reflects increased transmissibility of JN. 1 or increased opportunities for exposure to the virus, holiday travel and indoor gatherings as cold weather descends in parts of the U. S. UU. No there is evidence that the newer variant poses a greater risk. or that the new vaccine is useless in the face of it, Cohen said.
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While fitness governments paint a largely reassuring picture of a fitness formula that is resilient to the rise of respiratory viruses, hospitals in some parts of the country are still under pressure.
Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University’s School of Public Health, said the toll of respiratory virus season should not be underestimated, though some trends have improved.
“The lesson we still want to learn is the fragility of our fitness system,” Nuzzo said. “If you have to go to the emergency room on a normal winter’s day, you have to wait a long time because there are so many other people looking for care. “
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Whitney Marvin, a pediatric critical care specialist at the Medical University of South Carolina’s Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital, said this RSV season is the worst she can remember. The children stayed in the hospital longer than the same years and the season later than last year.
This has put further pressure on the Marvin hospital, as the RSV wave overlaps with that of other winter respiratory viruses. South Carolina is the second state designated through the CDC for experiencing very high respiratory illness activity. The hospital had to coordinate with other hospitals in the south. Carolina, and even North Carolina, to divert patients.
“We’re still making sure patients are getting the care they need,” Marvin said. “It just may not always be at the closest hospital to them.”
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Although all infants can be vaccinated to avoid serious illness caused by RSV, shortages have forced the hospital to reserve doses for the sickest children. And many parents haven’t gone to get them from their pediatrician either.
“The majority of people who want the vaccine have not been able to get it this year,” said Marvin, also an associate professor of pediatric critical care. “All of us in the ICU who see the sickest of the sick kids are all hopeful we can see a different RSV season next year with wider distribution of vaccine.”