SALT LAKE CITY — With the holidays upon us and temperatures going down, health officials are asking Utahns to prepare for another “tripledemic.” That’s the combination of COVID, flu, and RSV cases.
The country is in a much better state than where it was this time last year. According to the CDC, in the week of Nov. 19, 2022, there were over 179,000 weekly respiratory illness-related ER visits.
The latest data shows 81,836 visits right now.
Despite the 100,000-person gap between this year and last, parents like Patience Rose Freeman are telling Utahns to not let their guard down.
“It was one of the scariest times of my life,” she recalled.
Years ago, both of Freeman’s daughters were hospitalized at the Davis Hospital and Medical Center with RSV.
“My youngest, she was so dehydrated that they couldn’t get in her arm or hand so they had to give her an IV at the top of her head,” she said.
Freeman, who battled the flu last month, is advising families to stay safe this Thanksgiving and to be aware of the risks.
“What an adult might have, you do not know how a child is going to handle that. For all you know, that’s going to put your child in the hospital,” she said.
Beyfortus, a new one-time shot to prevent RSV in babies under one year of age, launched in September.
“This is something that we haven’t had before,” said Utah DHHS immunization director Rich Lakin.
Right now, the demand is outweighing the supply for the new drug.
On Thursday, the CDC announced it’ll expedite 77,000 more doses.
Lakin said they were told Utah probably won’t see those allocations for another two to three weeks. He recommends using the extra time to visit the physician.
“We really don’t encourage mothers that have babies to just start scouting out where an RSV vaccine is because they need to have the conversation with their physician before they make that decision,” he said.
Health experts are also recommending pregnant people who are 32 to 36 weeks pregnant from September to January to get the RSV shot. That dose will create antibodies that will last for six months with the newborn after birth.
