Christiana Care is urging people to practice proper hygiene and to get vaccinated in the face of what is being termed a “tripledemic.” The tripledemic refers to a surge in flu, COVID, and RSV, according to Physician’s Assistant Allyssa German at Christiana’s Concord Township facility.
RSV stands for respiratory syncytial virus and has symptoms similar to the flu and COVID — sore throat, body aches, fever, and congestion.
“We’ve seen all three [of those illnesses] independently before,” she said. “COVID has definitely been in the forefront of the news for almost three years now, but flu, which we’ve been dealing with for many, many years, has been lower in numbers over the past two years. I think masking and staying home and quarantining has something to do with it, and that’s a great way to help prevent getting the flu as well as COVID and RSV.”
Nonetheless, numbers are on the rise, she said. While German didn’t have numbers for COVID or RSV cases she did say the number of flu cases is higher than normal for this time of year. In Delaware County, there have been 2,500 cases reported, while in Chester County, that figure is 1,500, but not all numbers are in yet. She’s concerned about the number of cases this early in the flu season and said the rise may be due to people relaxing from recommended restrictions for the last three years, especially coming off a major holiday like Thanksgiving.
“I think that’s why all three of these of these respiratory viruses are surging.”
She said flu numbers normally don’t get that high until January, February, or March. “Already we’re kind of outrunning where we’ve been for the past couple of years for flu.”
She has no numbers for COVID but thinks that might be due to the amount of home testing going on. Positive home tests are not reported, but lab test numbers are reported. Because of that, she said, the number of COVID cases is underreported.
There’s no vaccine for RSV, she said, but to combat the other two viruses before they hit, German is recommending people get vaccinated for flu and COVID. Both vaccines can be given during the same medical visit with one shot in one arm and the other shot in the other arm.
People should also be conscious of sanitation and hygiene. They should be washing their hands, staying home if sick, washing down surfaces and doorknobs, and wearing a mask if they need to go out while sick.
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