While COVID-19 is still circulating throughout the population, the medical community is warning people of the threat of two other viruses, too — the flu and RSV. Doctors say the surge of all three could cause an increase in hospital capacity — and some are warning of a "triple-demic."
Dr. Alex Garza, the chief Community Health Officer at SSM health and the head of the St. Louis Metropolitan Task Force, joined KMOX to tell us more.
"It's a little bit concerning. It's not what we've experienced in the last couple years where it's predominated by COVID. But it's really this mix of different respiratory viruses, which have come about for various reasons," Dr. Garza said. "So we know we're experiencing an extremely high level of RSV infection right now, which is mostly affecting the pediatric population. And so if you think about where we were at COVID in adults last year or two years ago, that's sort of where we are with kids."
Dr. Garza said pediatric hospitals are full right now due to the RSV surge. And since we haven't had a particularly bad flu season in a few years due to social distancing and masking measures that came along with the pandemic, the flu is expected to hit hard this year.
"There's a lot of people that don't have a lot of immunity. And then if we don't vaccinate in high numbers, and we have a particularly bad virus circulating, then that could add up to a really challenging season for us," he said.
RSV, which is most prevalent in young children, doesn't currently have a vaccine, though Pfizer has promising data on one that's in the works. The symptoms of RSV can be similar to cold and flu symptoms — including a runny nose, and a cough which can progress to wheezing. In younger infants, Dr. Garza said, sometimes it can manifest as a loss in appetite or irritability.
"With COVID and flu, they sort of have very similar symptoms. They're both viral diseases, so they can have temperature rises, fevers, cough, scratchy throats, all of those different things," Dr. Garza said. "Which is why it's important to do the testing, either at home or at an urgent care clinic to understand what is causing your symptoms."
Hear more from Dr. Garza on the potential "triple-demic" of COVID, the flu, and RSV:
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