RSV on decline but nasty flu strain raging in Georgia

“At the moment, america is experiencing a resurgence within the circulation of non-COVID-19 respiratory viruses,” stated Dr. José R. Romero, director of the CDC’s Nationwide Heart for Immunization and Respiratory Ailments, throughout a telebrief with the media on Friday. He pointed to excessive ranges of flu; RSV, a standard higher respiratory illness in kids beneath 5; and rhinoviruses, that are the commonest reason behind the frequent chilly.

“Nevertheless, it is very important observe that COVID-19 has not disappeared.”

The overwhelming majority of youngsters hospitalized within the intensive care unit at Youngsters’s Healthcare in Atlanta are for respiratory viruses based on a spokesperson. Flu-related hospitalizations are driving the present assault.

RSV, which had elevated in infants and younger kids in August, September and October, has slowed in latest weeks. The variety of kids hospitalized with COVID-19 at The Youngsters’s is a distant third.

Dr. Andi Shane, division chief of pediatric infectious ailments at Youngsters’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory College, stated most youngsters hospitalized at Youngsters’s with the flu had not been vaccinated. The CDC recommends everybody 6 months and older get their flu shot yearly by the tip of October, although the company stresses it is higher to get the shot later than not. vaccinate in any respect. A flu shot can stop an infection, and amongst those that nonetheless get the flu, vaccination can scale back the severity of sickness

CDC knowledge reveals flu vaccination protection amongst all kids this 12 months is 24.8%, similar to vaccination charges on the similar time final 12 months of 25.2%.

Final month, Youngsters’s Healthcare of Atlanta stated they have been seeing “unprecedented” numbers of sick kids, forcing them to increase their emergency room with a tent erected in a car parking zone. The hospital can also be urging non-pediatric emergency rooms to look after some kids, particularly older teenagers, as an alternative of shifting them to Youngsters’s, based on a spokesperson.

A hospital spokesperson declined to supply particular numbers, however stated the rise was two to 3 instances their regular affected person quantity.

As of Friday afternoon, based on the hospital system’s web site, emergency room wait instances have been over three hours in any respect kids’s hospitals in Atlanta.

In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, as individuals stayed residence and wore masks, instances of influenza and RSV fell to historic lows. Many individuals, particularly younger kids, haven’t developed immunity as a result of they haven’t been uncovered to viruses. Now, amid the relief of COVID precautions, these ailments are making a comeback.

There isn’t any vaccine for RSV and by age 2 nearly all kids have had the virus. Signs usually resemble a chilly and may embrace a runny nostril, congestion, and fever. However in some instances, RSV can develop into harmful, particularly in infants, resulting in respiratory issues and problems resembling pneumonia.

In the meantime, the flu, which acquired off to an unusually early and drastic begin this fall, continues to escalate.

Georgia is one in all 9 states within the nation, together with Washington, D.C., with “very excessive” flu exercise, based on the CDC’s newest flu exercise map..

Georgia’s Ministry of Public Well being stories that about 6% of affected person physician visits have been for influenza or flu-like sicknesses within the week ending October 22, based on the newest week for which figures can be found. That is up 5.9% from the earlier week. There have been 105 individuals in metro Atlanta hospitalized with the flu within the week ending Oct. 22, and up to now this season two adults have died from the flu in Georgia, based on DPH.

AJC knowledge journalist Stephanie Lamm contributed to this text.

The flu by the numbers in Georgia

6% – estimated proportion of affected person visits to medical doctors for influenza or influenza-like sicknesses.

105 – variety of individuals hospitalized with flu in metro Atlanta

2 – variety of individuals within the state who’ve died from the flu up to now this season

Supply: Georgia Division of Public Well being and primarily based on the newest accessible surveillance for the week ending October 22.