Sam Amico
Thanksgiving is here, and with that comes a time with relatives and friends, ad nauseam for some. Along with that, yes, comes the opportunity to catch something from someone else. For the past few years, that something was COVID. For now, that isn’t as great of a concern — though it still is, at least a little, according to the experts. And so are colds and the flu, just as always at this time of year.
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So that’s quite a triple threat, and it now has a name.
“We’re facing an onslaught of three viruses — COVID, RSV and influenza. All simultaneously,” said William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, via NPR. “We’re calling this a tripledemic.”
Beware of the Thanksgiving Tripledemic
Granted, again, this doesn’t seem as if it’s something to be overly concerned about, but it could result in people being laid up for a week or two at a time in more severe cases, experts say.
One of the biggest issues right now is the respiratory syncytial virus, or aforementioned RSV, which is impacting mostly kids. But appears the seasonal flu is hitting everyone hard, too.
“Influenza has hit the southeastern United States. It’s moved into the Southwest. It’s going up the East Coast and into the Midwest with some ferocity,” Schaffner said.
Given that we’re all about to congregate, eat, laugh and speak, that wave of the flu isn’t likely to slow down.
“Flu activity is high right now and continuing to increase,” says Lynnette Brammer, an epidemiologist in the CDC’s influenza division, via NPR. “The good news is, the vaccines this year are well–matched to the viruses that are currently circulating, and there is still time to get vaccinated.”
