COVID-19, RSV, and the flu are once again surging – but unlike the past few winters, we aren’t hearing much about it. You may be tempted to write off a sniffle or cough as a cold without bothering to get tested, because, after all, the pandemic is over, right? (Right?)
KNX News Chief Correspondent Charles Feldman went in depth with preventative medicine and infectious disease professor Dr. William Schaffner about this winter’s viral wave. He said people should still be testing, especially if they're in a high-risk group.
“Because we do have medications for COVID and for flu that can help prevent this illness developing into something more serious that requires hospitalization,” he said.
Even if your COVID infection isn’t serious enough to put you in the hospital, Schaffner pointed out that it can still cause long-lasting problems, unlike the cold or flu.
“We are learning that other respiratory viruses, including flu, may have some prolonged symptoms after you recover from the acute illness, but nothing like long COVID,” he said.
While vaccines are available for COVID, RSV, and flu, the uptake has been less than spectacular.
“I'm very concerned that we as a population have had so much vaccine fatigue, and we wish to put COVID behind us, and we want to get back to normal, so that we have underutilized these valuable vaccines,” Schaffner said. “Vaccines are good for you, but they're also good for the people around you, because these are all communicable infections. So you're helping to keep yourself as well as your family and community healthier.”
He says the flu is going to be around through January and into February, so if you haven’t been vaccinated yet, it’s not too late.
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