In past years, these trends have proven to be precursors to a seasonal surge. We have become all too familiar with seasonal summer and winter spikes of COVID, and this winter is no different. New variants are circulating and driving the increase in both wastewater viral activity and infections. How concerned an individual should be depends on many factors, including their age, any comorbidities or immunocompromising conditions they have, past experience with COVID illness, vulnerable household contacts, and personal or proximal experience with long COVID.
The silver lining to recent spikes is that they do not cause anywhere near as many hospitalizations and deaths as COVID surges did earlier in the pandemic, when we had less population immunity through prior infections and immunizations.
As with past iterations of the COVID vaccine, the current shot protects against severe illness and hospitalizations. COVID symptoms can include fever, chills, dry cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, loss of taste or smell, fatigue, body aches, headache, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, according to the CDC. Like COVID, seasonal influenza activity is at elevated levels across much of the country and flu-related emergency room visits are currently very high.
It is not too late to get a flu shot and it is especially important for high-risk groups β including older adults and very young children, immunocompromised individuals, pregnant women, and anyone with chronic conditions such as lung, heart, kidney, or liver disease, obesity, or diabetes.
Patients 65 years of age or older should ask for the high dose influenza vaccine or adjuvanted influenza vaccine, which helps create a stronger immune response in those vaccinated.
