Dr. David Priest, an infectious disease expert with Novant Health, said RSV — a respiratory virus that often manifests as an ordinary cold, but can be more serious — is impacting the region right now.
Right now, 85% of Novant Health’s child inpatient population are in due to RSV, Priest said.
Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, typically affects children five and under, and it’s a fairly common childhood disease, so healthcare providers working at Novant are quick to diagnose it when they see it. The danger is not extreme, but for some, it’s more serious.
“The danger is really for all kids, but really kids that have chronic medical problems. So kids with asthma, kids with other underlying immunodeficiencies, kids with underlying lung issues are going to be more at risk for complications," Priest said.
This year viruses are hitting harder because communal immunity is at an all-time low for things like the flu and RSV. The pandemic has had a massive impact on exposure to viruses we were seeing year after year.
“It's really interesting from an epidemiologic standpoint for people to think about this. But if you suddenly take that rolling immunity year over year… And you just stop it like what happened to the pandemic, everyone stayed home, there were masks, that immunity fell off," Priest said.
Addressing the issue of “vaccination fatigue” after nearly two years of messaging for multiple rounds of Covid vaccines and boosters, Priest said that people need to realize how "special" vaccines are. He said they have the ability to keep you safe and healthy, or mitigate symptoms, and encouraged people to evaluate their own level of risk and get vaccinated when appropriate.
