The holiday season might be more miserable than merry for many Americans, as a tripledemic of viruses continues to sweep the nation and push hospitals to the brink.
More than three-quarters of ICU beds in the U.S. will be occupied through Christmas, according to projections by the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The figure is roughly the same as it was two years ago, during the height of the pandemic, when COVID patients filled hospital beds.
We have seen COVID cases go up. Weve seen hospitalizations go up. Deaths are just starting to rise, Dr. Ashish Jha, the White Houses pandemic response coordinator, told reporters at a Thursday press conference.
COVID deaths sit at around 2,700 weekly, and new hospital admissions just under 5,000 daily.
In a signal of widespread disease, wastewater levels of COVID are again on the rise. Nationally, theyre at their third-highest peak since the pandemic started. Theyre greater than they were during the first wave of infections in the spring of 2020. But theyre lower than they were during the Omicron surges of January and July, according to Biobot Analytics, a company that performs wastewater surveillance for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But the winter COVID surge is only part of the problem. This seasons flu outbreak is the worst in a decade, Jha said. Flu activity remains high or very high in the vast majority of the U.S. There have been at least 15 million flu illnesses so far this season, with 150,000 hospitalizations and 9,300 deaths, according to the CDC.
While some data indicates that flu may be peaking in some areas, its very early data, Jha cautioned.
Levels of RSVa common respiratory illness that usually causes cold-like symptoms, but can be deadlyremain at record or near-record highs, according to the CDC, though they appear to be on the decline. Beyond the tripledemic, levels of the illness were high or very high in all but four states as of Dec. 10, according to the CDC. The agency is also investigating a possible increase in invasive cases of Strep A among U.S. childrenlikely as a result of the viral onslaught.
There are several theories as to why the U.S. and other countries are struggling with multiple viruses at epidemic levels this autumn. A few factors are likely at play, experts say.
Vaccination rates for both flu and COVID are low, likely thanks partly to COVID vaccine hesitancy. Also, pandemic-related masking and isolation resulted in lower levels of exposure to common viruses, meaning many people didnt get an annual booster dose of viruses for which theres no vaccine, like RSV, via infection.
Then theres the thought that COVID is causing immune systems to forget other infections theyve previously encountered, Dr. Carrie Horn, chief medical officer of National Jewish Health in Denver, told Fortune.
Combine that with post-pandemic eagerness to be more in personand the colder weather driving people indoors in many Northern Hemisphere locationsand you get increased exposure with decreased immune responsiveness.
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