(WTVO) — Health officials are sounding the alarm about a possible spike in respiratory viruses as people gather this holiday season.
This came as the number of both flu and RSV cases continue to climb. Those at the highest risk include immunocompromised and older adults. Younger children face the highest risk for RSV.
While COVID-19 numbers remain relatively low, health experts are anticipating that will change. They suggested that residents take precautions, and COVID tests, before holiday gatherings.
“We have Christmas coming up and New Year’s…and that was the peak of when we saw our demand for testing go up—and it was pretty severe when it happened last year,” said Patrick Leonardo of American Medical Response. “It’s not as dramatic as last year, but we are starting to see an increase of folks getting tested.”
There is also a concern about new COVID subvariants. About half of new COVID cases are due to the new BQ omicron subvariants.