By Guy Page
Since late October, national health officials and media have been warning about a potential “Tripledemic” of Covid-19, traditional influenza, and RSV, a virus that is most dangerous to young children and infants.
Public health officials have long feared a ‘bidemic’ – Covid-19 and influenza surging at the same time. However, the U.S. is now facing a potential ‘tripledemic’ due to an unexpected surge in RSV, a respiratory virus that mostly strikes the very young. The cause of the surge is an ‘immunity debt’ created by pandemic responses of masking and social distancing, many pediatricians say.
In a November 14 WCAX interview, Dr. Mark Levine said influenza vaccinations are at about 25%, down from previous years. He urges Vermonters to get vaccinated for influenza before the Thanksgiving holidays.
Statistics from early November show flu almost non-existent, Covid in ‘low’ activity, and RSV on a steady five-week average increase.
Covid-19: 38 hospitalizations and 442 cases overall as of November 11 – down from the previous week. The Health Department at present terms the level of activity “low.” Four deaths were reported in November, bringing the pandemic total to 763 in Vermont, according to VT Dept. of Health numbers.
Flu: A total of four cases of the flu had been reported between October 2, the official Opening Day of flu season, and November 5 (latest statistics available). The VT Dept. of Health lists one flu season case in Grand Isle County, two in Windsor County, and one in Windham County. All are in the “school and university” category. Childcare and long-term care facilities were untouched by the flu through November 5.
RSV: Vermont’s five-week average of PCR-diagnosed RSV cases has risen steadily from 6 on September 3 to 79.3 on November 11, CDC statistics say. Vermont has not seen epidemic levels of RSV that have prompted many hospitals nationwide to establish temporary treatment centers.
Respiratory syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) virus, or RSV, is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Most people recover in a week or two, but RSV can be serious, especially for infants and older adults. RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lung) and pneumonia (infection of the lungs) in children younger than 1 year of age in the United States.
There’s no vaccine to fight RSV. It’s treated with medication or, in severe cases, with hospital intervention.
Dr. Ron Keren, Chief Medical Officer of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, is among the many leading pediatricians who say the surge of RSV is due to lack of immunity among the patient population – mostly very young children.
“I think it gets to this idea that some folks are calling ‘an immunity debt,'” Keren told MedPageToday.com. “We think that that may be because during the pandemic, there were a few cohorts of infants born who, due to social distancing and masking, probably didn’t get exposed to these respiratory viruses, including RSV, and so they were not able to build up an immune defense to RSV and other respiratory viruses, leaving them vulnerable now.”
California reported the current RSV outbreak’s first death of a child under 5 on Monday, November 14.