PENNSYLVANIA, USA — We are just days away from Thanksgiving, meaning the busiest travel season of the year is already upon us. As people spread their holiday spreads, so will the coughs, sneezes, and symptoms of seasonal illnesses.
“There are three big offenders at the moment,” Penn State Health Infectious Disease Physician Dr. Mohammed Ali said.
Dr. Ali says there’s a full plate of things to be on the lookout for this year: Flu, RSV, COVID-19, and, of course, the common cold.
“Everything is on the way up at the moment,” he said. “We are going to continue to see these numbers as we get into winter.”
Health experts are reminding and encouraging Pennsylvanians to get their annual shots to prevent serious illness.
“If you get vaccinated, you’re protected to some extent, at least from the severe infection and from infection, per se,” Dr. Ali said.
Overall vaccination rates are trending down, in part due to vaccine fatigue. Infectious Disease expert Dr. Goldman says that’s not the only factor.
“The COVID vaccine hesitancy has applied to the flu shot, has applied to kids getting their vaccines,” Dr. Goldman said. “People are not vaccinating their dogs as much because of vaccine hesitancy.”
As of November 17, 20.5% of American adults have the updated COVID-19 booster and 34.8% have their annual flu shots.
Low vaccine numbers give doctors concern as illness numbers rise in the busy, colder months.
“We’re probably going to hit peak flu season around the time we have peak Christmas, peak travel season,” Dr. Goldman said. “I am in no way shape or form saying stay home. I’m saying, ‘Be smart about travel.’”
Both doctors say common sense things, aside from vaccinations, can help limit the chances you or a loved one gets sick.
“Frequent hand washing will prevent that from happening,” Dr. Goldman said. “The second thing is you shouldn’t go to your holiday gathering if you’re sick.”
“Wear a mask if you’re around people,” Dr. Ali suggests, “Especially those who can get this infection and can end up in the hospital.”
Of the three viruses, RSV is causing the most concern right now nationwide. Vaccines are in short supply due to manufacturing and distribution issues. It’s also spreading at an alarming rate. The number of new cases shot up from 2,000 per week to almost 7,000 in just the past month.
“We are having a bad RSV season,” Dr. Ali said. “So we are seeing the positivity rate going up, hospitalizations going up, especially in the southern part of the country.”
In Pennsylvania, the percentage of positive tests has been rising since early September. Data from the Centers for Disease Control shows an uptick in positive RSV PCR tests that began in early September.
Credit: CDC
The percentage of positive RSV PCR tests has been climbing since early September.
FOX43 reached out to more than two dozen school districts across Central Pa. to see if they’ve seen a dip in attendance as cold and flu season rolls in, and the RSV cases continue to rise. Of the districts that could provide insight, none have reported any dips in attendance out of the ordinary.
In total AAA is anticipating more than 55 million travelers this year for the Thanksgiving holiday.
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