Well, it finally found me. I was able to dodge it for over 2.5 years, but kids going back to school lead to a huge wave, according to school officials in my area.
Thankfully, it's not too bad. Fever, runny nose, cough, sore throat, fatigue. I'm almost 2 days into feeling symptoms.
What a way to spend a long weekend. Ugh.
Take 'er easy, Mike. I only have a juris doctorate, but my prescription is to watch lots of baseball.
I guess that means I'll have to watch Yadi & Wainwright tie history tomorrow afternoon.
The ‘tripledemic’ of RSV, COVID and flu is causing school closures across the U.S.: ‘It's going to be a tough winter’
Public health experts continue to warn about a trifecta of illnesses that are swirling in many parts of the country. Respiratory syncitial viruses (RSV) and flu cases are surging, causing a strain on children's hospital capacities around the U.S., while COVID-19 simmers in the background. This so-called "tripledemic" is impacting schools as well. Reports are trickling in from around the country of schools needing to close, owing to outbreaks of illness.
In Kentucky, the Williamstown Independent School District held a "Non-Traditional Instruction Day" on Nov. 4, "due to student and staff illness," district officials announced on Facebook. The McNairy County school district in Tennessee was closed on the same day, "due to an increase in illness of student, faculty and staff," according to a Facebook post from the district. One person noted in the comments that "over half of the junior high cheer team is sick." Fellow Tennessee school district Polk County Schools closed on Monday "due to illness," officials simply announced in a Facebook statement.
These closures have been happening for weeks. North Carolina's Shining Rock Academy closed on Oct. 28 "due to an overwhelming amount of flu cases impacting student and staff attendance," officials said on Facebook. "By 1pm today, nearly 24% of the school was absent, primarily due to diagnosed cases of the flu, or flu-like symptoms," the post read, noting that "the day will be utilized to conduct a deep cleaning" of the campus.
Infectious disease experts say to expect more of the same as we head into winter. "We're in for a little bit of a rough winter in terms of respiratory viruses," Dr. Thomas Russo, professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York, tells Yahoo Life.
Cowling says the virus is spreading faster in China than it's spread ever before anywhere during the pandemic. It also looks to be especially contagious in the Chinese population.
To estimate a virus's transmissibility, scientists often use a parameter called the reproductive number, or R number. Basically, the R number tells you on average how many people one sick person infects. So for instance, at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, in early 2020, the R number was about 2 or 3, Cowling says. At that time, each person spread the virus to 2 to 3 people on average. During the omicron surge here in the U.S. last winter, the R number had jumped up to about 10 or 11, studies have found.
Scientists at the China National Health Commission estimate the R number is currently a whopping 16 in China durng this surge. "This is a really high level of transmissibility," Cowling says. "That's why China couldn't keep their zero-COVID policy going. The virus is just too transmissible even for them."
On top of that, the virus appears to be spreading faster in China than omicron spread in surges elsewhere, Cowling adds. Last winter, cases doubled in the U.S. every three days or so. "Now in China, the doubling time is like hours," Cowling says. "Even if you manage to slow it down a bit, it's still going to be doubling very, very quickly. And so the hospitals are going to come under pressure possibly by the end of this month."
Meant to share this earlier than now, but still interesting info:
What is known about new Covid variant XBB.1.5?
A new Covid sub-variant is causing some concern in the US, where it is spreading rapidly. Some cases have also been recorded in the UK, so what do you need to know about XBB.1.5?
What is XBB.1.5?
It is yet another offshoot of the globally-dominant Omicron Covid variant. Omicron has outperformed the earlier Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta coronavirus variants since emerging in late 2021. Omicron has also given rise to many more contagious sub-variants.
Symptoms of XBB.1.5 are thought to be similar to those of previous Omicron strains. Most people experience cold-like symptoms.