Will there be a COVID winter wave? For sure, flu is out there

Published 12:49 pm Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Hospitals and health workers nationwide are preparing for another winter with COVID  – the first one that’s also expected to include high levels of influenza. Luckily, we have seen little of the flu the past two winters. However, that is expected to change this winter, as health experts are warning to brace for what could be an exceptionally severe flu season this fall and winter as more people who have not built up immunity over the last few years mix and mingle. These are two reasons why more people could be vulnerable to the flu this year.

The first is that with coronavirus restrictions such as the wearing of masks all but forgotten, people are more likely to come into contact with the flu virus this year than over the last two years.

The second reason is that fewer people are likely to be immune from the flu virus this year because fewer people have been getting the flu over the last two years – as the pandemic locked people down and as people worried more about getting COVID-19.

Flu cases are already rising in parts of the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Doctors are also seeing a number of children sick with respiratory viruses.

And despite a downward trend in COVID, new cases are still being diagnosed every day – even right here in the Tri-Cities. And, we have people still dying with it. Ballad Health reports that COVID hospitalizations stay high as flu season looms.

The convergence of viruses is hitting healthcare systems as they’re forced to reckon with staffing shortages that worsened during the pandemic.

Staffing deficits mean there is little wiggle room to accommodate any additional surges of patients, whether they’re sick with Covid, flu or other illness.

Despite the shortages, hospital leaders applaud healthcare workers who have been able to stay the course and are ready for this next phase of infectious disease.

Although reports of COVID cases have been decreasing steadily since early August, the average number of new cases per day, based on a seven-day average in October, is 44,473 – the lowest it’s been since April.

But, as the cold weather sets in and people increasingly gather indoors, COVID cases are expected to rise.

While the shots may not prevent a person from getting sick following an infection, they have been shown throughout the pandemic to keep infected people out of the hospital and from dying.

The vast majority of Covid cases circulating now are an omicron subvariant, BA.5. The latest version of the Covid vaccine targets BA.5, but since its debut in September, fewer than 4 percent of people eligible for the extra shot have received it.

“How much of a rise in the hospitalizations and death we will see is really going to depend on the extent to which people are getting up to date on their vaccines, especially those at high risk for severe illnesses, such as the elderly and those with weak immune systems,” said a spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Health.

It is important that you get a flu shot this winter, and your COVID booster.

The CDC recommends an annual flu shot for everyone aged six months and older. Children younger than age nine who have never had a flu vaccine, the CDC said, should get two this year, at least four weeks apart.

Get prepared for winter by getting your flu shot and up-to-date on your COVID vaccines. They will play a part in your being and staying healthy this winter.