Seasonal flu in Utah set to collide with COVID-19 in ‘twindemic’

SALT LAKE CITY – This fall’s seasonal flu will likely arrive in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Doctors and medical experts in Utah have said they fear a “twindemia” will further stress our hospitals and healthcare systems.

If we don’t fight the flu as vigorously as COVID-19, our health systems and our caregivers could be even more stressed.

“The flu puts a lot of people in the hospital every year. With the COVID-19 outbreak still in our community, we really can’t afford to add flu hospitalizations on top of that,” said Stephen Goldstein , post-doctoral researcher and evolutionist. virologist at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

Goldstein pointed out that this year most public health restrictions have been lifted, mask use is spotty, and many people are resuming what looks like normal life.

People are not as careful of respiratory infections as they were last year when the COVID-19 pandemic began. So other respiratory illnesses are coming back, and they expect the flu too.

“There is a real risk that if COVID-19 infections increase in late fall and winter, it will happen alongside the resurgence of the flu,” Goldstein said. “It would be bad for our health systems.”

Flu was at record levels last winter, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“What this tells us is that the same measures we used to try to stem the COVID-19 pandemic are also having an effect on the seasonal flu, which is spread in a very similar way,” said the searcher.

RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, a serious illness in children, is also back.

It normally increases in January and February, so it is very unusual for it to spread in our communities during the summer.

“We currently have a large number of RSV cases that also put children in hospital, thus increasing the burden on the pediatric health care system,” Goldstein said.

Doctors recommend vaccination against COVID-19 and seasonal flu to protect yourself, those around you and the community as a whole.

“Those two things are what can really help you stay out of the hospital if you get sick this winter,” Goldstein said.

Utah Department of Health officials said the flu shot has started to arrive.

In the coming weeks, they recommend making a plan to get the flu shot where it’s usually done.

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