RSV is making the comeback of the year
This is not a warning sign. We blew right past the warning sign a few weeks ago. Medical experts flagged us in the fading days of summer that autumn could deliver a Bermuda Triangle of health challenges, a dreaded tripledemic. Yet the percentage of people getting flu shots is even lower than normal (and wasn’t great to begin with). COVID boosters are about as popular as COVID. And both have been lapped by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which mimics the common cold but causes infections of the lungs and respiratory tract.
As a consequence, emergency rooms throughout Connecticut are packed with wheezing children.
Children struggling to breathe should be enough to convince the rest of us to do everything we can to stop the tide of illness from rising. But people have grown weary of wearing masks and the like. None of that means we should be trying to get sick. RSV numbers were down in 2020-21, largely because of steps such as social isolation and mask wearing. Then everyone showed their faces and went back into public settings. So now RSV is making the comeback of the year. Experts theorize that’s the result of a lack of population immunity.
Meanwhile, flu numbers are rising as well, and Connecticut is a hot zone. And though some people apparently think COVID ended a couple years ago, it continues to have a unhealthy presence in hospitals.
“There’s definitely going to be an increase in transmission, for sure. Whether it’s just COVID, whether it’s influenza, whether it’s RSV, I think we need to look at it in its totality, those three diseases,” said Dr. Ulysses Wu, chief epidemiologist at Hartford Health-Care.
The best approach is to get back to basics. You know the drill: Wash hands in warm water, and with soap, for at least 20 seconds. Don’t sneeze into your hands.
Clean items you touch a lot. That used to mean doorknobs and TV remotes. But when is the last time you wiped off that keyboard and smartphone?
Thanksgiving is a good place to start as far as improving habits. Kisses can be avoided, and people with colds, etc., should know better than to pick up babies.
Many doctors are encouraging people to mask up again when going into crowds, and to get vaccinated for COVID and the flu. If kids are sick, don’t send them to school, where they become infected fuses for peers and teachers.
RSV typically starts with cold symptoms, but can develop into bronchitis and even pneumonia. It can also trigger ear infections.
There isn’t much doctors can do for children with RSV, and kids typically recover within a few days. That’s little solace for parents, who often impulsively hustle their child to the emergency room.
That’s already happened throughout the state, putting a heavy strain on ED staffs. A wiser first step is to check in with a pediatrician.
This is no time to get sick. The best approach is to stick with those basics. Drinking a lot of water is always a good idea, and keep a humidifier handy as winter approaches.
RSV also has a nasty habit of being a return visitor. So buckle up for a long winter, and consider the warning signs on the horizon.
RSV typically starts with cold symptoms, but can develop into bronchitis and even pneumonia. It can also trigger ear infections.