Experts warn community of possible "tridemic" of flu, COVID and RSV
Oct. 25—FAIRMONT — A possible surge in three illnesses could lead to a "tridemic" this fall.
The "tridemic," refers to a fast rise in patients battling the flu, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV in the same timeframe. The United States is already experiencing increases in the three illnesses, according to Dr. Michael Stevens, system healthcare epidemiologist for WVU Health System.
"This is more of a population issue. And you have to remember, it's a real challenge, if you have a lot of people sick all at once, like we saw in the early days of COVID. That's a problem for the health system. So you don't want to see a lot of people sick all at once," Stevens said.
Marion County Health Department Administrator Lloyd White agreed and emphasized the increase in flu and RSV cases.
"We're starting to see an increase in flu and RSV cases comparatively from last year to this year already," White said.
Essentially, a greater population of people will be sick at one time with one of the three illnesses. RSV can be particularly concerning for young children because there is risk of hospitalization associated with it.
Stevens said the U.S. often looks to Western Europe for future trends in the United States and trends from countries such as New Zealand or Australia, in the southern hemisphere, where they have already experienced winter. They are both experiencing higher levels of sickness than usual, which many places in the U.S. are experiencing already as well.
"We may have a COVID surge here or increased COVID activity sometime in the next two months. It's certainly possible, but we're already seeing flu activity that's very high in certain parts of the US, as close as Washington, D.C.," Stevens said.
For late October, the U.S is experiencing higher levels of sickness that don't typically occur until winter, Stevens said.
"We're seeing rates that are sort of consistent with what we'd see in late November, as early as right now, which is what we expect from the southern hemisphere experience," Stevens said.
He said Australia and New Zealand recently "experienced the highest flu season in years and it came early. That's what we've seen in the U.S. So, Texas, parts of the southern U.S. and Washington DC — they're seeing flu activity that typically doesn't show up until later in the year, you know, sort of pre-COVID, December levels of flu. We're already seeing that," Stevens said.
Stevens said there are plenty of ways to protect yourself and others. The biggest one is getting the COVID-19 vaccine and influenza shot, which is available to anyone six months old or older. He also emphasized isolating and getting tested.
"You should isolate, get tested, make sure you're not exposing others because for most, you may feel super ill, but you're not going to get like profoundly ill and hospitalized. But, you may go on to expose somebody else who is vulnerable and may get really sick — like a young kid, someone who's older or someone who's immunocompromised," Stevens said.
Stevens also advised listening to public health authorities, especially if sickness really starts to spread and a temporary mask mandate is passed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Look for guidance from public health authorities like the CDC. If things get really bad, they may, you know, say something about temporary masking. It's worth listening to that. ... But, the vaccination — I can't emphasize that enough. Vaccines for flu and COVID, those are scientific and just a godsend. I mean, they're really, really very good at preventing severe illness," Stevens said.
White agreed.
"The most important thing to prevent these sicknesses is getting the vaccine that's available. Then, continue to do the things we know — it's still OK to wear a mask in crowded areas. Make sure we do proper hand washing hygiene and cover our coughs and sneezes, eat your veggies and take your vitamins. These boost our immune system, so if everyone would do them to the best of their ability, we still would see a number of cases decreasing. If we have decreasing cases, we have less hospitalization and less death," White said.
