COVID-19 burnout and the “tripledemic”

Jan. 4, 2023 / By Steve Delaronde

COVID-19 is not finished. In fact, it is likely to persist indefinitely and will move from pandemic to endemic status as the reduction and control of the virus occurs in different geographical regions. However, before reaching that stage we must get through a third COVID-19 winter in the northern hemisphere and a potential “tripledemic” that includes influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). What does this mean for the U.S. health care system?

We know what works. Hand washing, social distancing, masking, ventilation and vaccinations remain our best defense for reducing the spread of respiratory disease and the likelihood of hospitalizations. However, maintaining these behaviors at a population level is difficult. While 80 percent of Americans have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine, only 15 percent of Americans aged 5 and older have received the most recently available booster dose. The public, the media and even the military are experiencing COVID-19 burnout, as evidenced by the recent proposal to repeal the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for active military.

COVID-19 has claimed more than one million lives in the U.S. since early 2020. It was also responsible for more than 3.5 million hospitalizations in a one-year period from April 2021 to May 2022. During the first week of December 2021, there were 66,063 hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients compared to 38,505 in December 2022. While that represents a remarkable reduction, we should be reminded that COVID-19 hospitalizations continued to increase during the winter of 2021-2022 and reached more than 150,000 weekly cases in January 2022.

COVID-19 isn’t the only respiratory condition that leads to hospitalizations. The number of flu-related hospitalizations in October and November 2022 was higher for this period than any other time during the past decade. Flu hospitalizations decreased in December, but so far this season there have been 13,000 deaths resulting from the flu.

Historically, RSV has resulted in hospitalizations for as many as 120,000 adults aged 65 and over, and 80,000 children 5 years and younger. The RSV hospitalization rate for children under 5 years old increased to 61.5 per 100,000 in mid-November 2022 compared to last year’s early winter peak of 13.3 per 100,000. Fortunately, this rate fell to only 0.8 percent for the week ending December 24, 2022, but COVID-19 hospitalizations increased during this same period.

Now is not the time to surrender to COVID-19 burnout. Acute respiratory illness remains an ongoing concern, particularly for the very young and very old. Maintaining the public health measures that we know can prevent the transmission of respiratory diseases must remain a priority. Hospital admissions, staff shortages and unnecessary human suffering and death can by mitigated by not forgetting the hard lessons we have been taught by COVID-19.

Steve Delaronde is senior manager of product, population and payment solutions at 3M Health Information Systems.