By Kalvin Yu, MD, FIDSA, Vice President of U.S. Medical Affairs and Vikas Gupta, Pharm.D., Director of Medical Affairs

As temperatures drop across the U.S. and we prepare for winter, medical experts have warned of a potential “tripledemic” – where we face combined high rates of COVID-19, flu and RSV. We will be providing a weekly snapshot of how we’re tracking in these three areas throughout the colder months – and share insights on how our healthcare systems are faring from a capacity and resource standpoint.

Here is what our current data show through October 29: 

COVID-19

COVID-19 hospitalizations have not significantly increased quite yet. However, with new immune evasive variants dominating in some areas of the world and circulating in the U.S. and as we approach the holiday season – it will be important to pay close attention to both caseloads and hospitalizations. Typically, respiratory viral infections increase around the Thanksgiving holiday (graph depicting such trends in both 2021 and 2022.)  

FLU

We experienced a notable uptick in flu activity throughout October. This early activity can signal that we are heading towards a more severe season – particularly compared to the past two years. Last week alone, we saw a 6.2 percent flu positivity rate across the U.S (CDC FluView).

RSV

During the previous two winters, there were more stringent public health restrictions such as masking, school and office closures and capacity limits in indoor areas. This meant fewer people were exposed to viruses like RSV. With little to no mitigation efforts after two years, we are seeing a quick and severe resurgence of RSV, particularly in the younger population. In our data, 57 percent of discharges in the last two weeks are in children who are 4 years old or younger.

About BD Infectious Disease Insights
Emerging infectious diseases have been increasing in frequency during the past few decades. None have tested the U.S. health care system’s capacity or resiliency like COVID-19 – forever changing the way that we think about future outbreaks and how we manage the related unintended consequences. The BD Infectious Disease Insights series investigates today’s most prominent infectious disease trends. The series leverages the depth and breadth of our data to serve as an ongoing bellwether on the state of infectious diseases in the U.S., backed by clinical insights on how to increase overall awareness and preparedness.