Respiratory illness massively surging in NYC, 15 states: CDC

Health

By Alex Mitchell

Welcome to the Big Wheeze.

New York City is one of a handful of hotspots experiencing high rates of respiratory illness this month, the Centers for Disease Control reports.

The news comes on the heels of an earlier CDC report, warning of a recent 30% jump in hospitalizations for COVID-19 sufferers as well. Hospitalization rates are the highest among young children and senior citizens.

But COVID-19 is just one in a handful of illnesses making a nuisance of themselves in the Tri-State area, not to mention most Southern states and much of the Southwest, along with California.

All of these hotspots had either high or very high concentrations of COVID-19, Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection (RSV), or influenza.

The grisly trio has been referred to as “the tripledemic.”

Georgia and South Carolina are the two worst states in the country. Closer to home, upstate New York is experiencing low levels of the illnesses.

“Everything that we’re hearing about it is not any new virus or new pathogen, it is the common things that we see every season that perhaps coming together,” Dr. Philip Huang, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services told ABC News.

“The preventive things are all the same, you know, stay home if you’re sick, wash your hands, cough into your sleeve, don’t rub your eyes, nose and mouth, get up to date on the vaccinations.”

The numbers for flu hospitalizations are also on the rise — there were a total 5,753 in the last week of November and the start of December. That number is up from 4,268 the week prior, per CDC data.

RSV cases have seen a minuscule decline, of late. Hospitals in Washington are reinstating indoor mask mandates as a way to manage the influx.

How to protect yourself during tripledemic season

In October, Dr. Kristin Englund of the Cleveland Clinic predicted the unwanted hodge podge of disease rearing its ugly head this winter, after experiencing its significant impacts last year.

She stresses that the best ways to protect yourself are quite standard: stay home when sick, wash your hands, and wash down areas that are often touched.

Dr. Englund also stresses the importance of staying up to date with vaccines, especially for Covid-19.

“Unfortunately, COVID continues to mutate, so the prior vaccines that we’ve had are no longer effective against COVID,” she said.

Currently, the CDC is tracking the variant JN.1, which stemmed from an Omicron subvariant.

It currently makes up about a fifth of cases.