The number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations fluctuated up and down throughout 2023. The state was coming down from a spike in early January 2023 with approximately 2,428 cases recorded on Jan. 3, 2023, according to data from the Ohio Department of Health COVID-19 dashboard. Increases were seen in early September, going down until late October, when there a gradual increase began to the end of the year.
Even with ups and downs, Ohios 2023 COVID numbers are dramatically down from 2022s highest levels 32,715 cases on Jan. 3, 2022; 366 hospitalizations on Jan. 7; and 192 deaths on Jan. 13, according to ODH data.
Cases of COVID-19 continue to be reportable in Ohio, but cases are under-reported due to the availability of at-home testing. Many who do test positive just stay home and self-treat, with no notification. ODH considers hospitalizations to be a better indicator of COVIDs impact, and current hospitalization numbers remain lower than at the same time in each of the past two years.
ODH officially recorded 12,453 COVID hospitalizations in 2023 roughly equivalent to the entire population of West Carrollton, Urbana or Franklin. That number is down 62% from Ohios 33,380 COVID hospitalizations in 2022, but theres some uncertainty to the data.
The state cautions that hospitalizations are under-reported on ODHs date-specific dashboard, as 15,201 hospitalizations have been excluded due to the admission date for those hospitalizations being unknown. Combining the two hospitalization numbers could put the 2023 number at 27,654.
The state has had 147,202 COVID hospitalizations since the pandemic began, the majority of them in 2020 and 2021.
COVID-19 statistics comparing 2022 to 2023, using ODH data
According to ODH, COVID was responsible for 1,925 Ohioans deaths in 2023.
The availability of COVID-19 vaccines, along with updated versions of the vaccine, are credited for part of the decrease in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, experts say, though fewer than 10% of Ohioans have received the updated vaccine.
People who are more at risk of complications, such as people who are older, are more likely to stay up to date on COVID vaccinations.
The vaccine continues to be developed, and theres new versions of the vaccine available to keep up with the emerging strains as best possible, so we have seen an overall lessening in the effect of COVID, generally speaking, across the population, Suffoletto said. There still are instances where people are getting sick and going to the hospital, but that has lessened to a greater degree.
New variants continue to emerge, but vaccines still reduce the risk of hospitalizations, severe illness, and death due to COVID, public health officials say.
As of the week ending Dec. 2, the Omicron variant JN.1 had accounted for 4.59% of Ohio cases that have been genomically sequenced, ODH said. ODHs COVID-19 variant dashboard can be found in the states datasets at data.ohio.gov.
The World Health Organization considers JN.1 to be a low public health risk and vaccines that are currently available should provide protection against this variant, the organization said.
ODH of course continues to encourage Ohioans to receive the latest COVID-19 vaccine as their best defense against severe illness, the department said.
The wide availability of at-home COVID tests help people know when they have the virus, so they know to stay home to prevent spreading it.
People have developed their own strategies at dealing with COVID, making sure to take cold-like symptoms more seriously.
Theyre not just ignoring symptoms when they come up, Suffoletto said. In the past, people may have had congestion or cold-like symptoms and just ignored that or wrote it off as the cold. Now I think many more people are considering COVID and taking the test and taking precautions.
Even though hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID decreased in 2023 over 2022, public health officials encourage people to stay proactive with vaccinations.
We dont want to lose sight of the fact that even though compared to years past, theres a lower number of cases, its still very important for people to get vaccinated to help keep those cases down, to help keep people out of the hospital, to help keep people from being sick, Suffoletto said.
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More U.S. hospitals are requiring masks and limiting visitors as health officials face an expected but still nasty post-holiday spike in flu, COVID-19 and other illnesses.
While many experts say this season likely wont prove to be as deadly as some other recent winters, it still could mean hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and many thousands of deaths across the country.
New York City last week instituted a mask mandate for the citys 11 public hospitals. Similar measures were ordered last week at some hospitals in Los Angeles and Massachusetts. Some hospitals reinstated masking rules for employees months ago, in anticipation of a seasonal rush of sick people.
Flu and COVID-19 infections have been increasing for weeks, with high levels of flu-like illness reported in 31 states just before Christmas. Updated national numbers are to be released Friday, but health officials predict infections will grow in many states well into January.
What were seeing right now, in the first week of January, is really an acceleration of flu cases, in particular, said Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There is some good news. Flu and COVID-19 cases may peak by the end of the month and then drop, Cohen said. Though the flu has been skyrocketing, this years cases are being caused by a strain that usually doesnt cause as many deaths and hospitalizations as some other versions. Whats more, signs suggest current flu vaccines are well-matched to the strain.
I dont think its going to be overwhelming, said Dr. William Schaffner, Vanderbilt University infectious diseases expert. He deemed the current season moderately severe.
The CDC is pointing the public to an agencywebsitewhere people can look up their county, which can help them make decisions about whether to wear masks or take other precautions. Cohen urged people to get vaccinated and to seek treatment for flu and COVID-19.
Vaccinations are down this year, officials say. About 44% of U.S. adults had gotten flu shots by Dec. 23, according to the most recently available CDC vaccination survey data. Only about 19% of U.S. adults were reported to have received an updated COVID-19 shot as of early December.
COVID-19 cases are causing more severe disease than the flu but have been rising less dramatically. Health officials are keeping an eye on JN.1, a new version of the ever-evolving coronavirus. The omicron variant was first detected in the U.S. in September and just before Christmas accounted for an estimated 44% of COVID-19 cases.
The JN.1 variant may spread easier or be better at evading our immune systems, but there is no evidence that it causes more severe disease than other recent variants, health officials say. Current evidence indicates vaccines and antiviral medications work against it.
The CDC also has reported disappointing vaccination rates against another seasonal bug, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. That is a common cause of mild cold-like symptoms, but it can be dangerous for infants and older people. RSV cases rose in the fall but appear to have plateaued and are even going down in some places, according to the latest data.
At Hillsdale Hospital in southern Michigan, a 65% increase in respiratory illness activity in late December triggered a limitation to visitors in the birthing center. Only a spouse, a support person and grandparents can visit. They all must wear a mask and not show symptoms of sickness.
The restriction is common for the hospital around this time of year, said Dr. Nichole Ellis, a pediatrician who is the hospitals medical chief of staff. But its more difficult this season, she added.
In the past, we would have one disease that we were tracking or monitoring at one time, Ellis said. But now, babies and children will have multiple diseases at the same time. Its not that they just have RSV but theyre getting RSV and COVID at the same time, or influenza and RSV at the same time because all of the diseases are prevalent in our community.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Floridas surgeon general bucked the majority of the nations health experts Wednesday, calling for a halt to the use of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
Dr. Joseph Ladapo said there wasnt enough evidence for the shots despite their backing from the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ladapos latest salvo, in what seems to be an ongoing war against mRNA COVID vaccines, came in the form of a news release. The states top doc recommended against the use of the, regardless of age and condition. Ladapo said there wasnt enough data on "DNA fragments" in the doses alleging a possible cancer risk, impact on pregnancy or effects on vital organs.
In statements, he said federal regulators at the FDA and CDC were reckless with safety standards and that without more data "these vaccines are not appropriate for use in human beings."
"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have always played it fast and loose with COVID-19 vaccine safety," Ladapo said, "but their failure to test for DNA integration with the human genome as their own guidelines dictate when the vaccines are known to be contaminated with foreign DNA is intolerable." Since getting tapped by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the state surgeon general job in 2021, Ladapo has steadily increased his recommendations against the shots. First, it was for those 17 and under. Then males 39 and younger. In September of last year, those under 65 were told not to get mRNA boosters. From the 2024 campaign trail, DeSantis voiced support for Ladapos latest guidance, highlighting it during an event in Iowa and calling the research on the vaccines very, very flimsy. "Theres huge issues with this they havent been honest with the public on it," DeSantis said. "Before COVID I just assumed that this was very, very rigorous but the reality is the FDA is basically a rubber stamp for the pharmaceutical industry."
Many of the nations health experts disagree with the shot criticism, including the CDC, which continues to recommend them as safe and effective. The FDA also addressed Ladapos disapproval in this December letter, telling the physician in part "with over a billion doses of the mRNA vaccines administered, no safety concerns related to residual DNA have been identified."
"Here we have the safest, most effective vaccines in history awarded the Nobel Prize," Dr. Frederick Southwick, M.D., an infectious disease specialist in Gainesville, said. "And now our Surgeon General is calling to end the use of these vaccines."
Southwick is a member of Floridas chapter of the Committee to Protect Health Care a group of medical professionals who through the pandemic advocated for shots, masking and other COVID-19 mitigation. The physician had real concerns that Ladapo was doing more harm than good with his recommendations. Southwick said the surgeon general was undermining peoples trust in the nations health institutions.
"I am concerned that they are promoting what we would call disinformation for their own political gain," Southwick said. "And that is very disappointing."
Despite the Florida surgeon generals guidance against the shots, they are still widely available from your healthcare provider and still recommended by the CDC, especially for the elderly and those with comorbidities.
Today a study published in Nature Communications describes features of the acute phase of COVID-19 infection seen in patients who later developed long COVID, and a second study in the same journal suggests that long-COVID fatigue is linked to changes to the mitochondria in muscle cells.
The first study looked at patient reported outcomes (PRO) among 590 patients with post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC), or what is commonly known as long COVID. These symptoms linger after the acute (first 4 weeks) phase of illness, or patients experience new symptoms after acute infections.
The study enrolled participants who were hospitalized for COVID-19 from May 5, 2020, to March 19, 2021, at 20 US hospitals. None had been vaccinated against COVID-19 at the time of illness.
Blood samples and nasal swabs were collected on enrollment (day 1), and days 4, 7, 14, 21, and 28 after hospital admission. Patients also completed four quarterly surveys on symptoms, including upper respiratory symptoms, fever, shortness of breath, neurologic symptoms, and gastrointestinal symptoms.
Half of patients had long COVID
Overall, more than half (52%) of the participants hospitalized with COVID-19 had symptoms lasting 3 months after the acute phase of infection, the authors said. Similar to other studies, long COVID was seen more often in female patients, those with longer hospital stays, and those with multiple comorbidities.
The main factors associated with PASC were chronic pulmonary disease (odds ratio [OR] 2.46; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.41 to 4.29), and chronic neurologic disorder (OR 2.13; 95% CI, 1.20 to 3.78).
A total of 245 participants (52%) had an elevated baseline C-reactive protein, and 297 (50%) had an abnormal baseline D-dimer (> 0.5mg/L) upon hospital admission. Blood samples showed that patients who reported PASC had lower receptor binding domain and spike antibody (Ab) titers on day 1 of the study.
"Our data demonstrate that higher SARS-CoV-2 viral burden and lower Ab titers during the acute phase are associated with both the physical predominant deficit as well as the multidomain deficit PRO clusters," the authors wrote.
Remdesivir not tied to lower risk
During hospitalization, 76% of participants received oxygen therapy, 68% received steroids and 64% received remdesivir.
Among the 52% of participants who reported symptoms 12 weeks post-infection and beyond, 29% reported shortness of breath, 21% reported muscle aches or pain, and 20% reported cough.
"Any use of [the antiviral drug] remdesivir and steroids in the inpatient period was not associated with a decrease in PASC prevalence," the authors found.
The authors concluded by suggesting their findings "highlight the benefit of measuring immune responses during the acute phase for the early identification of patients at high risk for PASC, which may facilitate testing and monitoring of targeted PASC prevention and treatment."
Mitochondria malfunction in long COVID patients
In the second study, investigators from Amsterdam University Medical Center (Amsterdam UMC) sought to discover the root cause of post-exertional malaise, or extreme fatigue after physical or mental exertion, in long-COVID patients.
Limited exercise tolerance and post-exertional malaise is one of the most common features of long COVID, the authors said, but the pathophysiology of the conditions are unknown.
We saw various abnormalities in the muscle tissue of the patients.
The researchers induced post-exertional malaise in a cohort of 25 patients with long COVID and 21 controls who had recovered from mild COVID, taking blood and skeletal muscle biopsies before and after a maximal exercise test.
"We saw various abnormalities in the muscle tissue of the patients. At the cellular level, we saw that the mitochondria of the muscle, also known as the energy factories of the cell, function less well and that they produce less energy," says senior study author Rob Wust, PhD, in an Amsterdam UMC press release on the findings.
Interestingly, heart and lung function measured during the exercise test was normal in long COVID patients, further suggesting the muscles play a significant role in post-exertional malaise.
Exercise needs to be tailored for long-COVID patients, the authors said. "We advise these patients to guard their physical limits and not to exceed them," said lead author says Brent Appelman, MS, a PhD candidate at Amsterdam UMC.
"Think of light exertion that does not lead to worsening of the complaints. Walking is good, or riding an electric bike, to maintain some physical condition. Keep in mind that every patient has a different limit."
COVID-19 rapid test kits, April 28, 2023.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Oregon was lagging a bit behind most of the country, but now its experiencing a spike in flu and COVID cases.
From Dec. 16 through Dec. 23, flu cases nearly doubled in Oregon. COVID-19 test positivity jumped by more than 50% from Dec. 16 through Dec. 30.
And from last week to this week, adults in acute care hospital beds due to COVID jumped by 30%, according to the Oregon Health Authority.
RSV season has been underway since early November, but cases have stayed relatively flat at around 11% positivity.
Related: Flu infections in Southern Oregon are the highest in the state this season
Meanwhile, the past year saw a big drop in vaccinations in the state. Less than 14% of Oregonians got the latest COVID vaccine.
Dr. Paul Cieslak, medical director for communicable diseases and immunizations at the Oregon Health Authoritys Public Health Division, said people may have gotten tired of hearing and thinking about respiratory viruses, but the viruses are not going away.
Theyre still very much with us and theyre putting people in the hospital every day here in Oregon, Cieslak said.
Related: Confirming the science behind COVID-19 policy recommendations
COVID-19 cases are rising statewide, he added. As far as the flu, the biggest spikes right now are in southwestern Oregon. But that, too, has made its way to every part of the state.
Cieslak noted that nearly everyone qualifies for flu and COVID vaccines. He added that there are RSV medications for children, and RSV vaccines available for people who are over 60 years old or are pregnant.
And he said good respiratory hygiene like staying home if youre sick, covering your mouth when you cough and washing your hands often can also help stop the spread of respiratory viruses.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) A health alert is in place as a surge in sickness among staff, patients and visitors is forcing some local hospitals to mask across the board.
Starting with Upstate, including Golisano Childrens Hospital, Community Hospital and Upstate Cancer Center.
All staff are now required to wear masks everywhere except administrative areas and break rooms.
Visitors will be screened for respiratory illness, and if negative, ear loop masks are required for visiting. Anyone with symptoms will be turned away.
The same goes for visitors at Crouse Hospital. Crouse employees will also have to mask up if theyll be interacting with patients, including in hallways and nurses stations.
Currently, there is no universal masking at St. Josephs Health Hospital yet, but they are required in certain units.
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo is urging residents in the Sunshine State to stop getting the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA COVID vaccines over what he says are DNA-related safety concerns.
Over time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has reiterated that its research shows the vaccines are safe and outweigh the health risks associated with COVID.
But Ladapo's call for a halt in vaccination comes weeks after he issued a letter to the FDA last month, which questioned the safety and efficacy of the vaccines and whether the mRNA shots could possibly deliver DNA contaminants into human cells.
These vaccines are not appropriate for use in human beings, said Ladapo in a recent statement released by the Florida Department of Health.
On December 14, the FDA provided a written response where the director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Peter Marks, reported that a DNA virus was not present in the shots and that studies did not find "genotoxicity from the vaccine.
Ladapo raised his concerns again Wednesday, saying that the FDAs response does not provide data or evidence that the DNA integration assessments they recommended themselves have been performed," and that the integration poses a unique and elevated risk to human health."
In his letter, Marks said the 2007 FDA guidance Ladapo referred to was developed for DNA vaccines themselves, not for DNA as a contaminant in other vaccines and is not applicable to the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines," and that its quite implausible that any residual DNA fragments from the COVID vaccines could find its way into a cells nucleus and be incorporated into chromosomal DNA.
He also said that reproductive toxicology studies found no concerns with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and that global surveillance data on more than 1 billion doses of vaccines administered show nothing to indicate harm to the genome."
The FDA doubled down and said that they wanted to make clear that based on a thorough assessment of the entire manufacturing process, FDA is confident in the quality, safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines."
Ladapo, however, doesnt think the FDA has properly assessed the vaccines.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also says that the shots are safe and effective and is recommending the vaccines for everyone 6 months and older.
But Florida's surgeon general does not suggest people under 65 get the vaccine and recommends they speak to their doctor before getting the shot.
"The FDA stands firmly behind the safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality of the approved and authorized COVID-19 vaccines, and respectfully disagrees with the Florida Surgeon Generals opinion.With over a billion doses of the mRNA vaccines administered and following very careful review of all the available scientific evidence, the FDA has not identified safety concerns related to the sequence of, or amount of, residual DNA," the FDA said in a statement Thursday. "In general, while concerns have been raised previously as theoretical issues, the available scientific evidence regarding the mRNA vaccines strongly supports the conclusion that the vaccines are safe and effective and have a highly favorable profile of benefit to risk. Additionally, it is simply a fact that millions of lives have been saved because of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, which most Americans undergoing vaccination have received."
The CDC estimates that about 11% of adults and about 6% of kids in Florida have received the new shots.
Understanding your rights to COVID-19 sick leave amid rising cases in Central New York
by Emma Misiaszek
(AdobeStock photo){p}{/p}
As COVID-19 cases in Central New York continue to rise some are asking if theyre still entitled to COVID sick days that were commonplace during the height of the pandemic.
In New York, to qualify for any disability or paid family leave, you need to take certain steps to document your COVID case. This is true for everyone whether youve received the vaccine or not.
After testing positive you must quarantine for five days. You should complete a form that affirms you were in isolation.
Most employers in New York State are required to provide you with COVID-19 sick leave and are expected to pay you for the days of work you missed while in quarantine.
This also applies to parents and guardians if they need to quarantine with their young child who gets COVID-19.
For more information, click here.
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More U.S. hospitals are requiring masks and limiting visitors as health officials face an expected but still nasty post-holiday spike in flu, COVID-19 and other illnesses.While many experts say this season likely won't prove to be as deadly as some other recent winters, it still could mean hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and many thousands of deaths across the country.New York City last week instituted a mask mandate for the city's 11 public hospitals. Similar measures were ordered last week at some hospitals in Los Angeles and Massachusetts. Some hospitals reinstated masking rules for employees months ago, in anticipation of a seasonal rush of sick people.Flu and COVID-19 infections have been increasing for weeks, with high levels of flu-like illness reported in 31 states just before Christmas. Updated national numbers are to be released Friday, but health officials predict infections will grow in many states well into January."What we're seeing right now, in the first week of January, is really an acceleration of flu cases, in particular," said Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.There is some good news. Flu and COVID-19 cases may peak by the end of the month and then drop, Cohen said. Though the flu has been skyrocketing, this year's cases are being caused by a strain that usually doesn't cause as many deaths and hospitalizations as some other versions. What's more, signs suggest current flu vaccines are well-matched to the strain."I don't think it's going to be overwhelming," said Dr. William Schaffner, Vanderbilt University infectious diseases expert. He deemed the current season "moderately severe."The CDC is pointing the public to an agency website where people can look up their county, which can help them make decisions about whether to wear masks or take other precautions. Cohen urged people to get vaccinated and to seek treatment for flu and COVID-19.Vaccinations are down this year, officials say. About 44% of U.S. adults had gotten flu shots by Dec. 23, according to the most recently available CDC vaccination survey data. Only about 19% of U.S. adults were reported to have received an updated COVID-19 shot as of early December.COVID-19 cases are causing more severe disease than the flu but have been rising less dramatically. Health officials are keeping an eye on JN.1, a new version of the ever-evolving coronavirus. The omicron variant was first detected in the U.S. in September and just before Christmas accounted for an estimated 44% of COVID-19 cases.The JN.1 variant may spread easier or be better at evading our immune systems, but there is no evidence that it causes more severe disease than other recent variants, health officials say. Current evidence indicates vaccines and antiviral medications work against it.The CDC also has reported disappointing vaccination rates against another seasonal bug, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. That is a common cause of mild cold-like symptoms, but it can be dangerous for infants and older people. RSV cases rose in the fall but appear to have plateaued and are even going down in some places, according to the latest data.At Hillsdale Hospital in southern Michigan, a 65% increase in respiratory illness activity in late December triggered a limitation to visitors in the birthing center. Only a spouse, a support person and grandparents can visit. They all must wear a mask and not show symptoms of sickness.The restriction is common for the hospital around this time of year, said Dr. Nichole Ellis, a pediatrician who is the hospital's medical chief of staff. But it's more difficult this season, she added."In the past, we would have one disease that we were tracking or monitoring at one time," Ellis said. "But now, babies and children will have multiple diseases at the same time. It's not that they just have RSV but they're getting RSV and COVID at the same time, or influenza and RSV at the same time because all of the diseases are prevalent in our community."
More U.S. hospitals are requiring masks and limiting visitors as health officials face an expected but still nasty post-holiday spike in flu, COVID-19 and other illnesses.
While many experts say this season likely won't prove to be as deadly as some other recent winters, it still could mean hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and many thousands of deaths across the country.
New York City last week instituted a mask mandate for the city's 11 public hospitals. Similar measures were ordered last week at some hospitals in Los Angeles and Massachusetts. Some hospitals reinstated masking rules for employees months ago, in anticipation of a seasonal rush of sick people.
Flu and COVID-19 infections have been increasing for weeks, with high levels of flu-like illness reported in 31 states just before Christmas. Updated national numbers are to be released Friday, but health officials predict infections will grow in many states well into January.
"What we're seeing right now, in the first week of January, is really an acceleration of flu cases, in particular," said Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There is some good news. Flu and COVID-19 cases may peak by the end of the month and then drop, Cohen said. Though the flu has been skyrocketing, this year's cases are being caused by a strain that usually doesn't cause as many deaths and hospitalizations as some other versions. What's more, signs suggest current flu vaccines are well-matched to the strain.
"I don't think it's going to be overwhelming," said Dr. William Schaffner, Vanderbilt University infectious diseases expert. He deemed the current season "moderately severe."
The CDC is pointing the public to an agency website where people can look up their county, which can help them make decisions about whether to wear masks or take other precautions. Cohen urged people to get vaccinated and to seek treatment for flu and COVID-19.
Vaccinations are down this year, officials say. About 44% of U.S. adults had gotten flu shots by Dec. 23, according to the most recently available CDC vaccination survey data. Only about 19% of U.S. adults were reported to have received an updated COVID-19 shot as of early December.
COVID-19 cases are causing more severe disease than the flu but have been rising less dramatically. Health officials are keeping an eye on JN.1, a new version of the ever-evolving coronavirus. The omicron variant was first detected in the U.S. in September and just before Christmas accounted for an estimated 44% of COVID-19 cases.
The JN.1 variant may spread easier or be better at evading our immune systems, but there is no evidence that it causes more severe disease than other recent variants, health officials say. Current evidence indicates vaccines and antiviral medications work against it.
The CDC also has reported disappointing vaccination rates against another seasonal bug, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. That is a common cause of mild cold-like symptoms, but it can be dangerous for infants and older people. RSV cases rose in the fall but appear to have plateaued and are even going down in some places, according to the latest data.
At Hillsdale Hospital in southern Michigan, a 65% increase in respiratory illness activity in late December triggered a limitation to visitors in the birthing center. Only a spouse, a support person and grandparents can visit. They all must wear a mask and not show symptoms of sickness.
The restriction is common for the hospital around this time of year, said Dr. Nichole Ellis, a pediatrician who is the hospital's medical chief of staff. But it's more difficult this season, she added.
"In the past, we would have one disease that we were tracking or monitoring at one time," Ellis said. "But now, babies and children will have multiple diseases at the same time. It's not that they just have RSV but they're getting RSV and COVID at the same time, or influenza and RSV at the same time because all of the diseases are prevalent in our community."
