Uptick in RSV, other respiratory viruses being felt on SouthCoast — what to know

NEW BEDFORD — It appears the SouthCoast is not immune when it comes to the uptick in respiratory illnesses such as respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, being reported nationwide, according to Southcoast Health Chair of Pediatrics Dr. Brian Sard, who points to the general public's past two years of masking — then unmasking — as a catalyst for what health systems are seeing.

"We've been seeing a lot of different viruses circulating in our area really since kids went back to school," Sard said, noting rhinovirus — source of the common cold — is the most commonly seen. "September is when volumes started increasing with respiratory illnesses."

Data from the Centers for Disease Control shows a slow, steady climb in weekly numbers of positive rapid test results for RSV recorded in Massachusetts through the months leading up to September, typically growing by less than one case from one week to the next. The week of July 9 to July 15 was the first time in 2022 that positive RSV results recorded in a week's time broke double-digits since the year's lowest point in March. The month of September started with 28.4 positive results in the first week, growing to 67 in the last. In the latest available full week of data, Oct. 15 to Oct. 21, the CDC indicates 155 positive results.

According to Sard, it isn't the appearance of specific viruses or their volumes that are anything unusual this year, but rather the timing in which providers are seeing the uptick in cases. "I think it's important to note that these are viruses we see every year — they're extremely common," he said, noting peak season for viruses like RSV would typically come between Thanksgiving and Easter. "So we're seeing numbers now like we've seen in prior winters, it's just that it's coming a little earlier in the calendar."

But Sard said this is not exactly a surprise among medical professionals.

"We expected the cycles to be off because everything was modified by mask-use," he said. "We took some time off of circulating viruses due to all the mask-wearing in relation to the COVID pandemic, but as the masks came off and communities no longer had the pretension of frequent exposure … people are now contracting the virus and becoming more symptomatic than they were in the last couple of years."

Get the national scope:RSV in infants and kids is threatening to overwhelm hospitals. What parents should know.

Sard told The Standard-Times on Thursday that just earlier, he'd been on a call with health care providers and public health officials from all over New England to discuss preparations in the event that the current uptick in respiratory viruses continues on to the point hospitals and care facilities need to share resources. "It's a regional issue and we're trying to solve it from a regional standpoint," he said. "For example, we’re sort of gathering data on hospital bed availability at different centers throughout the region so everyone’s aware of where the beds are if they become necessary."

Care options: When to seek medical help, and where

To help prevent a strain of resources, Sard says one of the best things the general public can do is not to panic — remembering the commonality and typically mild, self-resolving nature of respiratory viruses like RSV — and to consider the circumstances when making a decision on seeking care, noting most cases in older children and adults would amount to nothing more than common cold symptoms such as nasal congestion and a slight cough, and can be treated at home. For those who feel a need to seek medical help, he said urgent or primary care settings would be appropriate in most cases.

"Emergency care should be reserved for when there's difficulty breathing or feeding, especially when we're talking about our infants," Sard said.

In the case of RSV in particular, Sard says another thing to consider is that rapid tests for the virus are often administered by default when a patient is tested for COVID, meaning there is potential for increased testing volumes to result in greater numbers of positive cases being recorded.

"We’ve always had this abundance of virus in our community, especially in the winter months, but we wouldn’t always test for it because it’s unnecessary to identify the name of the virus — we’re more concerned with the symptoms or how it might affect an infant," Sard said, noting the natural vulnerability of infants' still-developing immune systems. According to reporting by Gannett news partner USA TODAY, another part of why viruses like RSV pose a higher threat to infants is due to their smaller airways, also noting COVID-19 mitigation measures also reduced infants' likelihood and frequency of immunity-building exposures to such viruses. The CDC notes RSV in particular is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children younger than 1 year of age in the U.S.

What about flu season? COVID?

Earlier this month, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced the start of weekly data reporting for cases of influenza, or flu, indicating 96 lab-confirmed cases throughout the state from Oct. 2 to Oct. 14. According to DPH data released Friday, levels of positive flu results are currently categorized as "minimal" — the least severe of five possible labels.

When asked if the coming of flu season could potentially compound any issues with the types of respiratory viruses currently seeing an uptick, Sard said, "Sure. Anytime there's multiple multiple viruses circulating at the same time it makes for a busy respiratory season."

See more local medical news:Monkeypox case diagnosed in New Bedford was not a resident. Here's what you need to know.

Asked of the potential for immune systems weakened by an uptick in RSV and the like to contribute an uptick in COVID, Sard said that is to be somewhat expected regardless of situations with other viruses. "I think ... it's going to find its niche in this cycle of respiratory viruses. It's likely to occur whether these other viruses have a foothold or not," he said. "It's just something we're going to be living with in an endemic way in our lives."

While the devastation isn't near the peak levels seen in the winters of 2020 and 2021, a look at the latest COVID data from Mass. DPH released Thursday shows the illness is still taking a steady toll, with 7,318 new cases confirmed over the preceding seven days, 1,095 reported probable cases and 86 confirmed deaths. For hospitalizations, DPH reports as of Tuesday, Oct. 25, there were a total of 764 hospital patients with COVID, out of which 239 were hospitalized "primarily ... for COVID-19 related illness."

Can a repeat of 2020, 2021 be prevented?

Sard says while it's true that there is possibility for a busy viral season to create a compromising situation, it's also true that there are available means to cut those odds down.

"We’ve got a vaccine for influenza and for COVID, and the thing that we can do as a community to help prevent disease spread is vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate," he said. "By virtue of that, it’ll help us manage all these viruses easier because we won’t have as much of the population presenting at the same time for evaluation."

Mass. DPH data, updated as of Oct. 24, shows Bristol County has the lowest rates of fully vaccinated individuals in the state at 66%.

Statewide, data shows the week of Oct. 18 to Oct. 24 began with 5,337,564 people considered to be "fully vaccinated" having received a full primary series of COVID vaccination, and ended with 5,545,298 for a total of 207,737 newly fully vaccinated individuals. Numbers of those who'd received two boosters over the same week went from 1,058,469 to 1,103,091 for a total of 44,622.

For more information on RSV, influenza or COVID — including the latest advisories for prevention and vaccinations — visit www.cdc.gov or www.mass.gov/orgs/department-of-public-health and use the available search options.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: SouthCoast region seeing early spike in RSV, other respiratory viruses