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RSV and the flu are almost non-existent in Utah and the rest of the country this year, said Dr Andrew Pavia, director of epidemiology at Primary Children’s Hospital on Monday, as the state reported 338 new cases of COVID. -19 and only one additional death from the coronavirus.
Usually at this time of year, hundreds of infants and toddlers would be hospitalized in Utah with RSV, as respiratory syncytial virus is commonly known. But so far this winter, there has not been a single admission for the virus to the primary children’s hospital, and influenza infections are extremely rare.
Public health measures taken to slow the spread of COVID-19, including travel restrictions that speed up the flow of seasonal flu, may help explain the slowdown in influenza cases, but the explanation for RSV is all but disappearing. It’s not so clear, Pavia mentioned.
“The masking and physical distancing and better hand washing we have known for years can control the flu. Now we do this natural experiment where we control it in a really spectacular way, ”said Pavia, adding that“ RSV is a little more confusing ”because it doesn’t go away in the summer like the flu.
The masking is helping, however, while keeping children at home during the pandemic, he said.
“But there might be other things that we don’t fully understand, as all of these things can be expected to reduce RSV to low numbers, but it’s practically zero across the country,” Pavia said, adding a theory that has yet to be proven. is that the COVID-19 virus chased away other viruses, such as RSV.
However, the low number of cases for RSV and influenza does not mean that the respiratory infections are gone.
Pavia said the two could hit Utahn hard, possibly even in the warmer months.
“It’s very likely that when the flu and RSV have been gone for a while, more people are fully susceptible. So when it does happen it spreads more dramatically and we see more serious disease, ”he said, adding that a severe flu season usually follows a mild season.
RSV depends on more babies “who are completely susceptible” to the virus, Pavie said, so next year there will likely be twice as many infants who have never been exposed. He said Australia, where it is now summer and where COVID-19 restrictions have been relaxed, is now seeing a huge increase in RSV.
“Our instinct is that it will come back,” the doctor said, noting that RSV affects older adults as well as younger children.
COVID-19 cases are on the decline, but with the 338 new cases reported on Monday, they have reached 367,073 since the start of the pandemic last March. Vaccinations appear to be helping, with 611,910 doses administered in the state, including 4,353 since Sunday.
The seven-day moving average of positive tests is 760 per day. 2,892 additional Utahns were tested and 5,931 additional tests were performed. The seven-day moving average of the percentage of positivity when multiple tests by an individual within 90 days are excluded is 13.3%, or 6% when all tests are included, which is now the state’s preferred method. .
There are 237 people hospitalized for the coronavirus in Utah. As the national death toll nears 500,000, Utah has lost 1,853 people to COVID-19, with the latest death reported on Monday, a Wasatch County woman aged 45 to 64 who resided in a facility in long-term care.
Correction: An earlier version of this story mistakenly referred to Dr. Andrew Pavia as Dr. Anthony Pavia.
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