COVID-19 has some company in the area of problematic respiratory viruses.

COVID-19 is still around. The flu season started early and is expected to be a bad one. And a third respiratory virus is rearing up.

“Everyone is sickeningly aware of the COVID pandemic… and so tired of hearing about it,” Warren General Hospital Medical Director Keith Price said. “I get it. But now we find ourselves at the unfortunate confluence of three respiratory virus tributaries – the ‘tripledemic.'”

RSV — respiratory syncytial virus — has joined the flu and COVID in causing breathing problems. As with COVID and the flu, most cases are not serious, but it can be deadly.

“RSV appeared on the scene in recent weeks,” Price said. “It is a common virus that most young kids have actually experienced by age 2, causing fever, cough, and runny nose, like our usual ‘cold’ symptoms,” Price said. “But, in very young children, with small breathing tubes, the virus can cause severe symptoms, leading to pneumonia (lung air sac inflammation) and small airway swelling (bronchiolitis).”

“In the elderly population, it can give severe symptoms as well,” he said. “So, it mainly affects the very young and the rather old. And it’s hitting us earlier than usual.”

“Influenza — flu – cases have been quite scarce during the COVID pandemic up to this point,” Price said.

That is usually attributed to the use of masks and social distancing.

“Now, influenza cases are skyrocketing, with symptoms much like RSV, COVID, or a bad cold (rhinovirus),” he said. “This is much earlier than we usually see flu affect our area.”

“COVID continues to circulate, with high transmission of the BA 4-5 variant in our area as well as in most of the U.S.,” he said. “And, unfortunately, some new variants (XBB and BQ 1.1) are occurring in Europe that are a real concern for us, with even more contagion and more severe disease.”

Warren County is not exempt from the viruses.

“In the last week at Warren General Hospital, there were 97 positive tests for Influenza A (none for Influenza B), 30 positive for COVID, and 44 positive for RSV,” Price said. “And this probably greatly underestimates the number of cases, because many people with symptoms aren’t tested.”

“Our local primary care centers, and especially pediatric offices, are overwhelmed with phone calls from parents whose children show signs of respiratory illness,” he said. “Absences from school are huge. Most of them seem to be influenza or RSV related.”

While there is no vaccine for RSV, there are steps people can take to help improve their chances of not getting the viruses and to help prevent the spread if they do.

“Get the flu shot to help prevent influenza,” Price said. “Get a COVID bivalent booster or, if you haven’t yet gotten the initial vaccine, get it.”

“Be reasonable,” he said. “Avoid crowded gatherings, especially indoors. Use a mask when many people are in close quarters around you. Use hand sanitizer and wash your hands frequently.”

“If you’re sick, stay home,” he said.