[Originally published: Aug. 11, 2022. Updated: Nov. 17, 2022.]
Note: Information in this article was accurate at the time of original publication. Because information about COVID-19 changes rapidly, we encourage you to visit the websites of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and your state and local government for the latest information.
Heading into winter, the fear of a “tripledemic”—the chance of flu, COVID-19, and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) happening at the same time and sending more people to already overstretched hospitals—is growing. Meanwhile, kids have been getting sick earlier than usual this fall, and in higher numbers. Common colds and other viruses that nearly vanished during the pandemic are back, and children are crowding emergency rooms in some parts of the country.
Experts were concerned that this would happen as kids headed back to school. In September, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an advisory about reports of increases in pediatric hospitalizations for patients who tested positive for rhinovirus and/or enterovirus.
Fewer people are practicing infection control, even as the highly contagious Omicron and its subvariants (like BA.5) continue to circulate. Doctors believe that relaxing mitigation efforts have opened the door to non-COVID diseases, which have been behaving erratically—for instance, causing infections at odd times of the year.
“My biggest concern is that we’ve seen a ton of viral infections just over the summer,” says Magna Dias, MD, a Yale Medicine pediatrician, who in August expressed concerns that there would be more infections once kids were together again in indoor settings.
As we brace for a possible tripledemic, here are ways parents can protect their kids from viruses. Yale Medicine experts answered some common virus questions on parents’ minds.
