Spike in Sickness

As we begin to enter flu season, a spike in sickness falls upon us in the U.S. But what are the causes of this uprise? It may be the common flu, but it could also be the newfound Covid variant or RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus). How can we protect ourselves from getting sick this season?

According to a CNN article, as of fall 2022 in the U.S., there has been a spike in Covid cases and a rise in infections in the nation. Some have speculated the leading cause of this was the Omicron BA.5 subvariant. Still, the actual culprit is a group of branch subvariants of BA.2, BA.4, and BA.5, gaining names like “Covid soup” and “scrabble variants” by the media.

Very few Central students are aware of these new variants. Central Freshman, Alice Bell stated to have no knowledge of the new Covid variant. “Every time there’s a new variant, it scares me, there’s rarely any real information about it, so I feel like I don’t know what to do.”

Though, compared to previous variants, this new group has been said to have “milder” symptoms. “If you compare it with other variants, the one we have right now is not as [bad]… Before, it used to be so dangerous that it was deadly. Now, it has milder symptoms,” Evelyn Ondevilla, Veterans Affairs nurse, says. “[There are] still respiratory problems though.”

However, these lesser-known variants still bring an effect amongst others. With the rise of flu season, it may be difficult to tell the difference between whether you have Covid, RSV, the flu, or even none at all with the similarity in symptoms of a mild runny nose, headache, and sore throat.

“If you notice, this is also the flu season, and so now the symptoms of this new Covid variant are almost the same as the flu symptoms. So initially, you don’t know if it’s the flu that you’re getting or it’s Covid that you’re getting.” Ondevilla states.

When asked about the effects of the new variants in her own life, Bell says, “My grandparents had it recently, all four of them. I was really scared because my grandma has a pacemaker and just started leaving her house, so she’s very high risk. She’s fine now but it was scary.”

Giulia Bedini-Jacobini, a freshman at Saint Thomas More, states that the effects of the variants caused her to “go to school in fear of getting the virus,” which made attending school feel strange and unnerving to her, especially toward the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year.

To keep ourselves safe during this fall and upcoming winter season, Ondevilla says, “We have to be more careful. Make sure we wash our hands…that’s what we call standard precaution- when you do hand hygiene, when you wear [a] mask just so that, whether it be covid or RSV or the flu, we should protect our patients from any of these viruses .”