‘Tripledemic’ rages

By Alex P. Vidal

“Winter is a season of recovery and preparation.”— Paul Theroux

INSIDE the downtown-bound subway 6 train early morning on December 12, I noticed 16 out of the 20 passengers were wearing masks.

Standing inside the car, I was aghast to realize I was one of the remaining four who didn’t have a mask.

When I transferred from the Grand Central Station to Queens-bound 7 train, almost everyone in the car I was in had worn a mask. This was when I began to realize I needed to wear a mask in my next trip back to Manhattan.

A rewind of what we were doing during the pandemic?

During the holiday, not only was outdoor masking being revisited as the topic in the Big Apple today, but also indoor masking, as three highly contagious respiratory viruses reportedly take hold.

In the news, a triple threat called “tripledemic” by some health experts has caused a sudden surge in cases of COVID, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that has been reportedly sickening millions of Americans over the past few weeks, overwhelming emergency rooms and even causing a cold medicine shortage.

Not only that, but nearly a tenth of counties in the U.S. have been advised by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to wear masks indoors.

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Juliana Kim of NPR News Now said CDC’s latest COVID-19 community level map indicates that over none percent of counties in the country were considered to have a high risk of infection.

The federal agency recommends that people living in those areas practice indoor masking. Generally, children under the age of 2 are not recommended to wear face coverings.

Nearly every state on the map released December 9 included at least one county where the COVID-19 community level was high or medium.

Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia were reportedly the only U.S. jurisdictions where all of its counties have low community levels.

The Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) has confirmed that a surge of respiratory viruses continues to sweep across the country, amid a holiday season in full swing, few to no pandemic measures in place, and the start of winter still days away.

This “tripledemic” of influenza, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections has completely overwhelmed many pediatric and adult hospitals, disrupted attendance at school, daycare, and work, and left families feeling weary and anxious about how to keep their loved ones safe from repeated sickness, particularly as the colder months drive more people indoors and create ideal conditions for viruses to spread, confirmed the BUSPH.

It further warned the surge of illnesses was not only occurring at higher rates this year, but also well ahead of the typical seasonal spike.

RSV cases are reportedly as much as 60 percent higher than the virus’ peak in 2021, and flu hospitalizations are the highest they’ve been in a decade.

RSV is common—most people have had it at some point in their lives—and it typically causes mild symptoms at most, but young children, the elderly, and immunocompromised people are most at risk for severe complications.

Indeed, there is a need for me to start wearing a mask until after the “tripledemic” has subsided.

I believe it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

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By the time this article comes out, we may have known the complete finalists—and which teams will dispute the third place—in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

As of this writing, only Argentina has advanced to the final on December 18 with a masterful 3-0 blasting of Croatia on December 13.

Lionel Messi and his team will face either Morocco or defending champion France to be known on December 14 in another remaining semifinal match.

It’s hard to pick which team will face Argentina in the final as no one can underestimate the Moroccans, the first African nation in FIFA history to reach this far, although France was the heavy favorite.

In soccer, it’s always anybody’s game especially in the homestretch.

Fans, however, have been wishing for the “new faces” in the final even if Croatia has been toppled; meaning, many of them were rooting for a Morocco vs Argentina showdown “for a change.”

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)