An ominous emergence successful COVID cases has parents bracing for different question of unwellness — adjacent arsenic flu play appears to beryllium peaking and RSV is connected the decline.
Why it matters: We're successful a play of back-to-back-to-back sucker punches from respiratory viruses that are hitting young children earlier — and harder — than usual.
- This play has already swamped pediatricians' offices, exigency departments and children's hospitals; caused shortages of communal antibiotics and children's medication; and led pharmacies to bounds income of symptom and fever meds.
State of play: COVID cases are up 16% since mid-October, fulfilling predictions of a wintertime surge conscionable arsenic an aboriginal flu play — which has already caused much than 9,300 deaths — is showing signs of abating.
- "This twelvemonth what you're seeing is simply a existent rebound of flu-like illnesses," said Manoj Gandhi, elder aesculapian manager astatine Thermo Fisher Scientific. "It's surely bad."
- While overmuch has been made of the alleged tripledemic of flu, RSV and COVID, but there's really much of a "septo-demic," said Peter Hotez, dean astatine the National School of Tropical Medicine astatine Baylor College of Medicine, successful an interrogation posted past week with the American Medical Association.
- That counts para influenza, rhinovirus, metapneumovirus and pneumococcus arsenic portion of the mix, helium said.
- "They're moving successful antithetic combinations and causing a batch of kids to beryllium admitted to the hospital, arsenic good arsenic seniors. This is accounting for a large surge successful hospitalizations," Hotez said.
- It's a marked opposition to aboriginal successful the pandemic, erstwhile lockdowns and schoolhouse closings spared kids from the worst of the crisis. Those who did get sick often experienced milder symptoms.
The large picture: Now a emergence successful COVID infections is being driven by newer variants.
- Most children are protected against the worst outcomes, either due to the fact that they've been vaccinated oregon person immoderate immunity from a anterior infection, said Peter Marks, manager of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research successful an lawsuit connected children's vaccines Tuesday.
Yes, but: Many inactive aren't existent connected their vaccines, and the instrumentality to pre-pandemic beingness is exposing them to simultaneous threats.
- "Unfortunately, we astir apt volition beryllium seeing a just magnitude of flu and COVID-19 among kids, peculiarly due to the fact that COVID-19 vaccination rates are not precise high," Marks said.
- "The benignant of COVID-19 with Omicron B.A.1 that kids got past January, February is astir apt not highly protective against the variants that are present circulating," Marks said, urging parents to see boosters.
The bottommost line: Hold connected for the thrust and employment the mitigation strategies we each cognize well, similar washing hands, societal distancing and masking erstwhile possible.
- Hotez' proposal for parents heading into the holidays: Make definite everyone is up to day connected their vaccines, including the caller bivalent COVID boosters for kids arsenic good arsenic shots for flu and pneumococcus. "Take arsenic galore of those pathogens disconnected the array arsenic you can," helium said.
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