Pedestrian expresses concerns over potential “tripledemic”

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Worries about a tripledemic again this year.

A Memorial pediatrician says the sharp rise in respiratory viruses lately and Flu season isn’t too far away.

“From July to August, we had almost an eight fold increase for our positive numbers up to about 250.”

That’s for COVID cases and Memorial Children’s Hospital Dr. Michael Bossak says RSV cases aren’t far behind.

With a busier emergency room, Dr. Bossak says patients are getting younger than years passed.

Two to three babies a week are ending up here with COVID.

“We definitely are seeing a slow rise in the amount of young babies that have COVID. A lot of those babies have fevers that need to be watched. Fortunately, not a lot of those babies are being admitted to our ICU,” said Dr. Bossak.

If your child is showing sick symptoms, he says irregular breathing is a key reason to take your child to the hospital.

“Significant cough, a significant increase in work of breathing where they look like they are really working hard, using their stomach to breathe and using their abdomen to really pump air in and out.”

And with COVID and RSV cases still on the rise and the FLU season around the corner. Dr. Bossak says he is worried about a “tripledemic” again this year but says the hospital is more prepared to handle it.

He says they haven’t seen many FLU cases so far and the season starts in October.

“We don’t know if the flu is lagging behind. If it’s not going to spike up until December, January of this year or if it’s going to relatively low Flu season but I think the hospital has made preparations for the possibility that we have another “tripledemic.”

And as far as what to expect in the years to come, Dr. Bossak says it’s likely these three respiratory virus will be back every year around this time and through the winter.

“The kids are together again. They’re passing it around and then it kind of starts to die out of again as the winter sort of lags off.”

He says they should have the Flu vaccine next month.

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