SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — The so-called tripledemic of respiratory illnesses are all circulating through Shelby County as 2024 begins.
Flu, COVID and RSV cases are on the rise at the same time in the Mid-South. Currently, 72 people are hospitalized at Baptist Memorial Hospital four-metro area hospitals alone with either the flu or COVID.
“If we just do the common sense things to protect ourselves it also happens to protect our loved ones and people who cant protect themselves as well,” said Dr. Stephen Threlkeld, an infectious disease specialist at Baptist Memorial.
The good news is all the usual tricks learned during the worst of the pandemic to combat the viruses continue to work well. That means masking up, socially distancing and staying up to date on vaccines.
“Our memory of these kinds of things as a society is frankly not so good. We already know what to do to fix the problem. Historically, we have not done it with regularity over time, unfortunately,” Threlkeld said.
The silver lining of the pandemic is that hospitals are well equipped to handle surges in patients. But, that doesn’t mean it can't still take a serious toll on overall capacity, especially as health care workers themselves fall sick.
“Stay home. Go home. Don't go to work sick. Just go home and get in the bed and take you some Tylenol for the fever and allow yourself some rest and to get better,” said Dr. Margaret Wildmann, respiratory therapist at St. Francis Hospital.
Doctors believe its likely flu season will not peak here in the Mid-South until February or March, so we still have to take precautions for a while in the Bluff City. The need to stay vigilant against newer variants of COVID remains strong, as well.
“The virus that we have now circulating is dramatically different from the Wuhan virus. It's even dramatically different from more recent variants. The newer variants had a lot of genetic changes in them. So the new booster is very important,” Threlkeld said.