COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS EASE; COLDS RETURN

As Coloradans take off masks and socialize, the common cold is coming back after a pandemic break.

As more Coloradans remove their masks and begin socializing again, there is another aspect of prepandemic life that is remerging: common colds. Health systems in the state are seeing an uptick patients with NON-COVID-19 respiratory viruses that mostly disappeared during the pandemic as people stayed home more often and wore masks. The state health department issued an advisory for doctors this month, warning that respiratory syncytial virus — which can cause severe illness in children — is among the conditions reappearing.

“It’s been so interesting because for the last year with COVID, we basically didn’t see anything else, and it was such a bizarre thing to see,” said Dr. Michelle Barron, senior director of infection prevention and control at Uchealth.

And the appearance this summer of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is unusual. It normally circulates in fall and winter — but is increasing around the country right now. There have been 13 cases of RSV reported in Colorado so far, with 11 since May 5, said Dr. Christine Jelinek-berents, medical director of pediatrics in Colorado for Kaiser Permanente.

By comparison there were more than 900 Rsv-related hospitalizations during the 2019-20 respiratory season, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

“We’re just starting to see it, partially, because different parts of the United States have different sorts of infection patterns,” Jelinek-berents said, adding that the risk of it spreading further increases as people interact with others more. Symptoms of RSV include runny nose, coughing, sneezing, fever and wheezing. In infants younger than 6 months, it can cause irritability, decreased activity and appetite and apnea, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis (the inflammation of airways in the lung) and pneumonia in children younger than 1 , according to the CDC.

It’s not just more cases of RSV that are circulating. Rhinovirus and NON-COVID-19 coronaviruses that cause common colds also are appearing in more patients. Uchealth started seeing one or two patients a week with colds in March, but it’s up to five to six patients a week, Barron said.

“(It’s) not unusual in general, but it’s unusual in the time of COVID,” she said.