Flu, RSV, and COVID-19 infections all are skyrocketing just as we’re gearing up for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

“We are officially in respiratory viral season. That includes everything you can think of from the common cold to more severe illnesses, and it has begun with a vengeance,” said  Dr. Michelle Barron, senior medical director of infection prevention and control for UCHealth and one of the top infectious disease experts in Colorado.

“Sometimes we have a slow start to the respiratory season. Not this year,” Barron said. “We went from nothing to hundreds of cases in a very short time frame.”

Read more at Colorado Times Recorder.

Weekly flu cases, hospitalizations and deaths have nearly doubled for the second week in a row, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So far this season, there have been at least 2.8 million illnesses, 23,000 hospitalizations and 1,300 deaths from influenza.

By comparison, the prior week’s estimates had illnesses at 1.6 million, hospitalizations at 13,000 and deaths at 730.

Additionally, the cumulative hospitalization rate currently sits at 5 per 100,000, which is the highest at this point in the season since the 2010-11 season, as far back as statistics are available.

Read more at ABC.

An experimental therapeutic cancer vaccine induced two distinct and desirable immune system responses that led to significant tumor regression in mice. This is according to a new research study published in the journal Cell, reported by investigators from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

According to the research findings, intravenous (IV) administration of the vaccine boosted the number of cytotoxic T cells capable of infiltrating and attacking tumor cells and engaged the innate immune system by inducing type I interferon. The innate immune response modified the tumor microenvironment, counteracting suppressive forces that otherwise would tamp down T-cell action. Modification of the tumor microenvironment was not found in mice that received the vaccine via subcutaneous administration (i.e. a needle injection into the skin).

Read more at Sci Tech Daily.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that, so far this season, influenza has already claimed 1,300 lives in the U.S. and also estimates there have been at least 2.8 million illnesses and 23,000 hospitalizations.

Cases, hospitalizations, and deaths for the flu have now almost doubled since the week prior– for the second week in a row.

“Here we are again thinking about and planning for a surge that will be really hard for us to absorb over the next couple of months,” Dr. Brendan Carr, a professor and system chair of the department of emergency medicine at Mount Sinai Health System, told ABC News.

Overall, respiratory illnesses including flu are hitting young children especially hard potentially due to the recent relaxation of pandemic-era prevention efforts. So far, there have been five influenza-associated deaths in children this season- with three deaths reported this past week.

Read more at ABC.

With Thanksgiving just two weeks away, people who are eligible for an updated Covid-19 vaccine booster but still haven’t received the shot will need to roll up their sleeves Thursday to get as much protection as possible before the holiday.

Health officials are worried about a possible surge in respiratory illnesses this winter – including Covid-19, flu, RSV and rhinoviruses – and they are urging people who are not up-to-date on their Covid-19 shots to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

“The way it makes protection is to create these proteins, which we call antibodies, that then circulate in the bloodstream. Well, that can’t be done with a snap of the finger. There’s a biological process that takes place,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

Read more at CNN.

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 and flu are rising in Colorado at the same time, while a respiratory virus that primarily harms children is already pushing pediatric hospitals to the brink.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 320 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Colorado, which was a “pretty dramatic” increase from 218 at this time last week, state epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy said. Cases and the percentage of tests coming back positive also have risen, suggesting the virus is spreading more widely, she said.

Since the start of October, 92 people in Colorado have been hospitalized with flu, Herlihy said. That’s still a relatively low level, but more than the state usually sees this early in the season, she said.

Read more at The Denver Post.

An alarming number of Colorado children with the respiratory virus called RSV are filling emergency rooms and intensive care beds as the state experiences an “early and intense” start to the flu season, state health officials and Children’s Hospital Colorado warned Wednesday.

“It’s truly like nothing we’ve ever seen before at Children’s Hospital Colorado,” said Dr. Kevin Carney, a pediatric emergency physician and Children’s associate chief medical officer.

The hospital’s in-patient and ICU beds across the state are operating at or above maximum capacity, and emergency room and urgent care visits for respiratory illness are 30% higher than the busiest days of a normal flu season, which typically runs January through March.

Read more at The Colorado Sun.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend asked me how many COVID shots I’d gotten so far. And for a brief, wonderful moment, I forgot.

“Three,” I told them, before shaking my head. “No, actually, four.” I had no trouble recalling when I’d received my most recent shot (September). But it took me a moment to tabulate all the doses that had preceded it.

By this point in the pandemic, a lot of people must be losing track. “I actually think this is a good thing,” says Grace Lee, a pediatrician at Stanford, and the chair of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Now that so many Americans have racked up several shots or infections, she told me, the question is no longer “‘How many doses have you gotten cumulatively?’ It’s ‘Are you up to date for the season?’”

Read more at The Atlantic.

El Buen Samaritano, an Episcopal outreach ministry in Texas, serves the east side of Austin, the poorer of the two sides of the city split by I-35. There are fewer services there, including many neighborhoods that don’t have a health center. The population is mainly people of color, many whose first language is Spanish. It’s the kind of population that has low Covid vaccination rates.

But El Buen has been able to prove that at least as far as Austin goes, the issue is not fear of the vaccine itself. “This is all about access,” Luis Garcia, director of technology and analytics for El Buen, told me. Its food pantry gets about 200 visits every day it’s open, many from families who return week after week. Each of those food pickups is a chance for El Buen staff members to talk to them about the vaccine, Mr. Garcia speaking in Spanish as he hands them bags of groceries and whole watermelons. The organization has also plastered social media, put out radio spots in Spanish and hung fliers in other food pantries.

Read more at The New York Times.