US struggles with increased COVID, flu, RSV amid falling vaccine use – KATU

FILE - COVID-19 antigen home tests indicating a positive result are photographed in New York, April 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)

WASHINGTON (TND)

COVID infections and hospitalizations are rising as the U.S. goes through its first seasonal uptick after the end of the public health emergency, which as coming along with a rise in flu and RSV cases and creating a triple-threat of respiratory illnesses.

The U.S. has seen surges of respiratory illnesses, including COVID, during the fall and winter months as cooler weather pushes people inside and gatherings for the holidays begin since the onset of the pandemic. Some years, like with the Omicron variant in 2022, saw significant spikes in severe illness and death.

But this year appears to be much less severe in terms of hospitalizations and deaths. A new COVID variant, JN.1, has become the dominant strain spreading across the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. JN.1 is highly transmissible, but health experts say that it does not appear to be driving a spike in severe illness or hospitalizations.

The new COVID variant JN.1 is highly transmissible, so it's causing a lot of mild illness that doesn't require hospitalizations, but some hospitalizations will occur among older people. Fortunately, the updated vaccine continues to protect against severe serious, serious disease caused by JN.1, said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

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Even though the uptick in flu and COVID cases is not expected to be severe, it will still result in thousands of illnesses and deaths in the U.S.

For the week ending Dec. 23, hospitalizations rose by nearly 17% from the previous week. There were about 29,000 new hospital admissions, an improvement from 39,000 the same time in 2022 and 61,000 in 2021, according to CDC data. Deaths also increased by 10% from the week prior.

The COVID bump comes along with more flu infections, which the CDC estimates to total around 7.1 million illnesses, 73,000 hospitalizations and 4,500 deaths so far this season.

Health officials saw lower vaccine uptake with every round of the coronavirus vaccine that was released as people grew tired of rolling up their sleeves and vaccine skepticism ramped up over the course of the last few years. Getting a COVID vaccine has also become more burdensome for patients after the expiration of the public health emergency without federal funds boosting the availability of it.

There's a fair amount of vaccine fatigue out there and people want to put COVID behind them and unfortunately, that means we have underutilized the JN.1 updated vaccine, as well as the influenza vaccine. You're not reaching the same population that we did before COVID, Schaffner said. I hope over time, we can turn this around, educating people and making them comfortable and understanding that this is a good thing for them, their families and their communities.

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The uptick in COVID and flu cases has prompted hospitals in some parts of the country to reinstate mask mandates to minimize the spread of the illnesses. Some hospitals in places like New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. renewed mask requirements following an uptick in infections and hospitalizations.

It remains unlikely for widespread masking rules to make a return as the U.S. has largely moved on from the pandemic, with voluntary masking increasingly rarer to see and COVID fatigue hampering efforts to get shots in arms with the new COVID booster and this years flu shot.

Despite the challenges and new variants, existing treatments for COVID and the flu are still effective.

Public health experts are encouraging people to reach out to their doctors for treatment if they become sick. That is especially important for those who fall into high-risk groups of developing severe illness or complications.

In terms of treatment, we have treatments available both for flu and for COVID. And we're just having to remind people, particularly those in high-risk groups, that if they develop symptoms to contact their health care providers because we can help them get better sooner, Schaffner said.

Americans can also still receive free COVID tests from the U.S. government delivered by the United States Postal Service at no charge after the government reopened the tests portal in anticipation of a busy fall and winter season for infection. Households can order another round of four at-home tests and anyone who did not accept the offer in September can get up to eight through COVIDtests.gov.

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US struggles with increased COVID, flu, RSV amid falling vaccine use - KATU