White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha at the White House in Washington, D.C., October 25, 2022.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
As COVID-19 hospitalizations surged in the weeks following Thanksgiving, White House Covid-19 Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said families can be safer at upcoming holiday gatherings in the event that they get updated vaccines.
This 12 months, for the first time, hospitals face the simultaneous threat of Covid, influenza and RSV. Influenza and RSV circulation has been very low during the pandemic due to the widespread masking and social distancing introduced in response to Covid, but as most people return to their normal lives, all three viruses are circulating widely.
As of December 14, the 7-day average of weekly latest Covid cases reached 65,067, down 2.9% from the previous week, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The excellent news is that we will prevent these infections from turning right into a serious disease if people exit and get the updated bivalent vaccine,” Jha told ABC’s This Week on Sunday.
Public health officials said many people are likely to be more susceptible to flu and RSV this 12 months because they have not been infected in the last two years, meaning their immunity is lower. The CDC said about 23,503 flu patients were admitted to the hospital this week, while hospitalizations for RSV appear to have peaked in some states.
According to the CDC, Covid hospitalizations have averaged greater than 5,000 per day.
Former Food and Drug Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said it’ll be “a difficult few weeks” and told CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday that this 12 months’s respiratory pathogen season is “the worst in recent memory”.
Gottlieb said it was a historic 12 months for influenza particularly.
“80% of hospital beds are actually full. Hospitals have not been this full since the peak of the omicron wave last winter,” he said. “The difference is that last winter 25% of those hospital beds were full of Covid admissions. Right away, only 6% are full of Covid parties.”
Despite the fact that it’s protected to gather in groups this 12 months, Jha said staying up to date on vaccines can be essential to keep people out of the hospital.
“I had the flu shot last 12 months. I do not expect it to protect me this winter,” he said. “Every winter I’m going out and get a flu shot, identical to people have to exit and get a Covid shot.”