'Tripledemic' season is here: Worcester hospitals brace for surge of COVID, flu and RSV

WORCESTER ― It’s been nearly four years since the global pandemic pressed paused on our "everyday routine," and the latest numbers reveal it's far from over. Hospitals across the country are seeing a simultaneous uptick in cases of COVID-19, RSV and the flu.

“It’s certainly increasing dramatically,” Dr. Bob Klugman, associate vice president and medical director of employee and occupational health services at UMass Memorial Health, said of COVID cases. “We’ve tripled our number of inpatients in the last few weeks.”

The latest wastewater data collected by the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority confirms the uptick.

In December, more than 450 Worcester residents tested positive for COVID. Worcester County saw 1,977 confirmed positive cases, the third-highest total behind Essex County with 2031, and Middlesex County with 4,086 cases. It's a far cry from the height of the omicron wave back in January 2022, when Massachusetts at one point reported more than 20,000 new cases in a single day.

The COVID strain known as JN.1 is the fastest-growing variant local hospitals are seeing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say there is no evidence that JN.1 “causes more severe cases of COVID or poses any more of a risk to public health than other circulating variants.”

“People are getting infected much more easily. We’re seeing a lot of people who’ve never gotten COVID before test positive. Right now, our focus is doing everything we can to take care of sick people,” Klugman said. And that includes UMass staff.

“We’re up to 30 to 40 employees a day calling out with COVID,” he said. “Recently we had one day where 61 employees called out sick with COVID.”

UMass Memorial is just one of thousands of hospitals across the country being impacted by health care staffing shortages. Klugman said the sick calls add up quickly and every day is "survival mode."

Not just COVID

Unfortunately, COVID isn’t the only respiratory illness causing the coughing.

“We’re seeing RSV cases, and the flu is steadily on the rise. By late January, we’ll be hitting the peak of the season,” Klugman said.

In the first week of the year, nearly 18% of emergency department visits were “due to acute respiratory disease.”

"Across the board, we're seeing an uptick in COVID, the flu, RSV and just generalized winter pneumonia," said Dr, Adam Darnobid, chief of emergency medicine at St. Vincent Hospital.

While St. Vincent is seeing the traditional winter surge in respiratory illnesses, Darnobid said his staff in the emergency department has been creative and working hard to meet the needs of patients. The hospital isn't experiencing the same number of staff sick calls.

"In the ED, we're doing remarkably well; we haven't experienced any sick calls," he said. "If staff members in other departments have been calling out, it hasn't impacted operations in any way."

When it comes to staying safe, both hospitals have the same message for the public: Make sure you're up to date on your vaccinations and don't forget the power of a mask.

"It's the things we remember from the early days of the pandemic that remain the most important: getting the vaccine, wearing a mask, washing your hands ... if you don't feel well, wear a mask, stay home from work," Darnobid said.

Some hospitals reinstate mask rules

Starting the first week of January, UMass Memorial reinstated its masking requirements for employees during patient encounters and in common areas. Patients and visitors are strongly encouraged to mask up, especially if they're feeling under the weather.

St. Vincent has had a policy in place asking all staff, visitors and patients in clinical areas to don on a mask.

Several other medical facilities across the state have also reimposed masking requirements, including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, Boston Medical Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Mass. General Brigham and Tufts Medicine.

As of Jan. 4, just 18.1% of Massachusetts residents had been received the most recent COVID variant, including a meager 10.8% of Worcester residents. A bit more than 36% of Massachusetts residents report rolling up their sleeves for a flu shot this season, compared to 28.4% in Worcester.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Local hospitals see surge in COVID, flu and RSV