# “Tripledemic” of flu, Covid and RSV call for masks again



## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

This is an NBC News headliner today:

*It’s not just Covid. Flu and RSV mean masks need to come back*

Entering the holiday season last year, surging Covid-19 cases overwhelmed hospitals. This year, hospitals have been overwhelmed by a combination of Covid, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and the flu. Along with RSV, the record number of flu cases pushing pediatric hospitals near to capacity is a worrisome signal that the current flu season will be the worst in years. Facing a particularly acute crisis, pediatric hospitals have called upon President Joe Biden to declare an emergency to provide more resources to respond to the current surges.

This “tripledemic” of flu, Covid and RSV is a reminder that even as the pandemic ends, the threat of seasonal respiratory viruses remains. Thankfully, our toolkit for tackling them is similar to what works to suppress Covid alone, starting with the most basic and flexible level of protection: masking. When and where respiratory viruses are surging, mask mandates should be reinstated.

Masks work and, critically, they don’t need to work perfectly to have a positive impact. A recent study found that Boston school districts that had lifted mandates averaged 45 more Covid cases per 1,000 students and staff than those with mandates. Other evidence has suggested that masks are effective against influenza as well, with some scientists suggesting that widespread masking during the first two years of the pandemic contributed to the historically low rates of flu and RSV observed in those years.


RSV, a respiratory illness that causes coldlike symptoms and can be especially severe for young children and the elderly, spreads through the air like Covid but also through contact on surfaces. This means that RSV — for which a vaccine is still being developed — can be mitigated through both mask-wearing and hand-washing.

In a typical year, RSV causes up to 80,000 hospitalizations and 300 deaths among children under 5, and up to 10,000 deaths and 120,000 hospitalizations among adults age 65 and older. As with flu and now Covid, individual adverse outcomes are rare relative to the number of cases, but more spread and more infections means more people experience serious outcomes. Even with the pandemic receding, an average of 300 people are still dying from Covid every day. Unvaccinated people face six times the risk of death according to recent data, but many people dying now are vaccinated as well. 

Unfortunately, as mask mandates and public health messaging have disappeared and complacency or resignation takes hold, the public’s voluntary compliance with healthy behaviors such as wearing masks and getting booster shots is waning, while businesses continue to roll back sick leave and remote work policies.

Hospitals remain overwhelmed as they face the chronic strain of the past few years and staffing issues. Though pediatric hospitals are the most affected, the whole system is struggling, and emergency room wait times have increased. Masking may not prevent all infections, but preventing any infections helps alleviate the burden.

Mask mandates not only stem the spread of diseases but also have helpful psychological benefits. It’s difficult for people to get adequate, high-quality information about risk and apply it in a society that has returned to pre-pandemic norms. Promoting mask-wearing through official messaging (ideally supported by free provision of high-quality masks like N95s) removes the onus on individuals to figure out “what is safe.”

Even if governments do not apply broad mandates, institutions and events can apply their own. The Supreme Court recently ruled that the Transportation Security Administration did indeed have the authority to mandate masks. Studies show that when two people mask it is more effective than when one person alone masks, and a mandate preempts the awkwardness of having to ask people to mask or of having to disclose a high-risk condition.


NBC Link to full story

Yale medicine link


----------



## yakc130 (Apr 27, 2012)

Yeah. I've been transporting a lot more RSV patients the last few weeks. We figured this out awhile ago when we got the uptick in kids and older people with it.

In fact, it's been more RSV patients than covid patients.


----------



## Howard_Z (7 mo ago)

Vaccine-Aides


----------



## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

Howard_Z said:


> Vaccine-Aides


I'm not familiar with that term, please can you explain.


----------



## Tanstaafl (Oct 28, 2009)

Just returned home (Ottawa, Canada) from the Philippines and have been reading about the huge increase in colds, flu, RSV. It's really hard to tell if Covid-19 has increased as our governments abandoned voluntary testing for it early in the year. Our Children's hospital in Ottawa had to open a second emergency room to treat all of the new cases with a lot being RSV. Of course the government abandoning mask mandates doesn't help. IIRC in Alberta (and possibly Ontario) the governments are preventing local school boards from reinstating mask mandates for their students.

Flew Cebu Pacific into Manila - everyone masked (as required), flew Emirates Manila to Dubai - probably 50/50 masked, Emirates Dubai to Toronto - maybe 20% masked (large number of connections from India to Toronto), Air Canada Toronto to Ottawa - maybe 20% masked (federal government dropped the mask mandate on aircraft a month or two ago).

Caught a cold just before I left the Philippines so I was sniffling all the way back. Kept a mask on except to eat and I'm hoping that I didn't infect anyone. 

Medical officials here figure that the removal of the mask mandate is the number one cause of the increase. We are very prone to seasonal increases in the fall here, as soon as the weather cools off our cold and flu season starts. Additionally for kids officials think that there is less immunity to colds and flu as infants and very young kids have not been exposed to the viruses as they have been in the past.

Our health care workers can't get a break. Ranks of doctors, nurses, health care workers have been decimated with Covid-19 and everyone is overworked.


----------



## Howard_Z (7 mo ago)

Gary D said:


> I'm not familiar with that term, please can you explain.











Changes about to happen update 25 Oct 2022 on masks and...


3,165 new COVID-19 infections logged GMA News link full story So, I've noticed that not much has changed in the last couple of months, usually, we see a huge decline in the Covid numbers but the weather lately has been wet so no decline in numbers. What we don't know is the Hospital occupancy...




www.expatforum.com


----------



## Quezon Expat (3 mo ago)

Tanstaafl said:


> Medical officials here figure that the removal of the mask mandate is the number one cause of the increase. We are very prone to seasonal increases in the fall here, as soon as the weather cools off our cold and flu season starts


That makes sense as masks prevent disease spread via aerosols and as the weather cools more people are in confined spaces. Perhaps the rest of the world will adapt to the wearing of masks at the first sign of some respiratory illness much as has been done in SE Asia for many years. I got into the habit of wearing a mask during the Covid mandatory masking and even though it is not mandatory now most folks here still wear them in malls. After all they don't weigh much and are very inexpensive. We plan to go to the US in the spring and on the plane we will wear masks. Might not be cool to do so as we get closer to the USA but cool doesn't pay our medical bills.


----------



## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

So ever since this mask mandate went away there has been no significant increase in Covid, take a look at today's headlines Philippines, more people are wearing the masks here "yes" but not all, including myself, I've ditched the mask and I've noticed many others, I do wear it on crowded public transportation but not anywhere else. 

On another note, the major chained grocery stores have ditched that clunky plastic barrier, I'm headed to the bank and city today and so I'll see if the bank has ditched its thicker barriers also, maybe not though it's sort of a safety barrier from bullets.

*918 new COVID-19 cases logged; November total 43% down from October*

*Published *November 30, 2022 6:49pm
*Updated *November 30, 2022 7:53pm

The Department of Health logged 918 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the total for November to 33,154—lower than October's total of 57,794 cases by 43 percent. According to the DOH's data, the daily average for November of 1,105 cases is also significantly lower than October's daily average of 1,864. This is the second straight month where the average daily tally is lower than 2,000.

November's total is also the lowest in five months, since June's total of 13,883 or an average of 463 new cases a day.
Wednesday's new cases bring the country's caseload to 4,036,277, with active infections dropping to 18,043 from 18,250 on Tuesday.

The National Capital Region (NCR) reported the most cases in the recent two weeks with 4,333 infections, followed by Calabarzon with 1,929, Western Visayas with 1,106, Central Luzon with 1,035, and Central Visayas with 997.

The Health department said at least 976 new patients recovered bringing the recovery tally to 3,953,593.
Meanwhile, at least 21 new deaths were recorded, increasing the death tally to 64,641.

The DOH said the country’s bed occupancy slightly increased to 23.8%, with 6,758 beds occupied while 21,588 were vacant as of Monday, November 28. A total of 14,326 individuals were tested, while 340 testing labs submitted data as of Tuesday, November 29. *— Richa Noriega/BM, GMA Integrated News*


GMA news link


----------



## Howard_Z (7 mo ago)

Graham,
I think in the USA, probably at this point more people die from heart attacks than from covid. The virus is evolving to be less and less fatal.

This is what happened with the Spanish flu 100 years ago. It was H1N1 bird flu.









Spanish Flu: What Is It, Causes, Symptoms & Pandemic


The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 infected about 500 million people worldwide and resulted in 5o million deaths. It mainly affected the lungs.




my.clevelandclinic.org


----------



## Howard_Z (7 mo ago)

Heart Disease Facts | cdc.gov


Learn facts about how race, ethnicity, age, and other risk factors can contribute to heart disease risk.




www.cdc.gov














Nearly 225,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 since the start of 2022 despite viral declines, data shows


Although the daily death rates have ticked down slightly from August, the U.S. is still losing hundreds of Americans to the virus every day.




abcnews.go.com


----------



## Tanstaafl (Oct 28, 2009)

Howard_Z said:


> I think in the USA, probably at this point more people die from heart attacks than from covid. The virus is evolving to be less and less fatal.


The main variants (Delta and Omicron) seemed to infect the upper respiratory tract instead of the lower respiratory track infection by the original SARS COV-2 virus leading to less serious infections.Plus a large section of the population has been vaccinated. In Canada most provinces achieved initial vaccination rates of 80+% in adults. We can hope that any new strains of the virus are milder.

I think one thing that everyone can agree on is that we all want COVID-19 to be over and to return to a more normal life.


----------



## Howard_Z (7 mo ago)

A virologist from Europe explained what is happening with Omicron.

Almost the entire world has either recovered from C19, or has been vaccinated. So the people of the world create the wrong antibodies when infected with Omicron.

This is called ADE. Antibody Dependent Enhancement. Well known problem with Dengue Fever for example.

When an antibody attaches to a virus either the antibody kills the virus, or the antibody helps the virus enter cells. There are only two outcomes: Kill the Virus, or greatly help the virus.

In this case the wrong matched antibody opens the door for the virus to very easily enter cells. This is why Omicron was much more contagious.

Omicron really is not more contagious. It appears more contagious when recovered or vaccinated people are exposed to Omicron.

C19 moves from cell to cell by going through the cell walls to infect neighboring cells. However with the antibody attached to the virus, it can not go through the cell walls into neighboring cells. Instead the virus must leave the cell to reenter the blood (where the immune system might attack) in order to reach another cell to infect.

This causes Omicron to spread more slowly within the body compared to earlier variants. This is why Omicron is less deadly.

"Original antigen sin" means that first covid shot makes your body always make that antibody the rest of your life. Exposure to anything that resembles the original Wuhan Covid19 makes your body create that antibody. This happens with all variants past and future. Vaccinated people will always produce the antibody for the first Wuhan version of the virus. Nothing can change this. The bivalent vaccine for Omicron will not change this This new vaccine has not been tested, and will probably not be effective. In time all will know if it is a failure like the first vaccine.

The new vaccine is for BA4 and BA5 variants (along with the original Wuhan strain).
These variants are history.
Omicron has changed.

By the time any new vaccine is made available, it is obsolete.
Vaccines are not the solution.
(Sorry Pfizer might not make 100 billion dollars again from these vaccines)

Also Omicron is learning to coat itself with sugar.
Omicron is 40% coated with sugar.
When it learns to be 100% coated it will evade the immune system and become much more deadly


----------



## Howard_Z (7 mo ago)

When a person recovers from Covid, they make antibodies to 4 different parts of the covid virus.

When a person is vaccinated for Covid, they make antibodies for only 1 part - the spike protein part.

This is how doctors can know the difference between vaccined and recovered people.

Labcorp has the "S" antibody test (tests for antibodies to the virus's Spike protein),
and Labcorp has the "N" antibody test (I forgot what "N" stands for)


----------



## Tanstaafl (Oct 28, 2009)

Howard_Z said:


> Almost the entire world has either recovered from C19, or has been vaccinated. So the people of the world create the wrong antibodies when infected with Omicron.


Howard_Z, while some of your facts about ADE are correct it would appear that the conclusion that this occurs with Covid-19 is in error. These are the first two sources which came up on my Google search. I'm not saying that it doesn't happen, just that it is unlikely and that it is not widespread. Of course I'm not a doctor, or a virologist but I will continue to get vaccinations as they are offered.

Wikipedia
"Prior to the pandemic, ADE was observed in animal studies of laboratory rodents with vaccines for SARS-CoV, the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). However, as of 27 January 2022 there have been no observed incidents with vaccines for COVID-19 in trials with nonhuman primates, in clinical trials with humans, or following the widespread use of approved vaccines."

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
"Neither COVID-19 disease nor the new COVID-19 vaccines have shown evidence of causing ADE. People infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, have not been likely to develop ADE upon repeat exposure. This is true of other coronaviruses as well. Likewise, studies of vaccines in the laboratory with animals or in the clinical trials in people have not found evidence of ADE. "


----------



## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

Tanstaafl said:


> Howard_Z, while some of your facts about ADE are correct it would appear that the conclusion that this occurs with Covid-19 is in error. These are the first two sources which came up on my Google search. I'm not saying that it doesn't happen, just that it is unlikely and that it is not widespread. Of course I'm not a doctor, or a virologist but I will continue to get vaccinations as they are offered.
> 
> Wikipedia
> "Prior to the pandemic, ADE was observed in animal studies of laboratory rodents with vaccines for SARS-CoV, the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). However, as of 27 January 2022 there have been no observed incidents with vaccines for COVID-19 in trials with nonhuman primates, in clinical trials with humans, or following the widespread use of approved vaccines."
> ...


If you look at google what do expect, if you want the real news you need to look on the dark web.


----------

