November 2022 - Page 6 Of 32

211 hotline is a quick connection for non-emergency health and social services

Unsure where by to go for assistance, a homeless one mom named Mary designed an important contact immediately after she had a newborn in 2020. She dialed 211, a social provider hotline that place her in contact with transitional housing.

Even though she was doing the job two positions, Mary, who declined to give her last title, couldn’t pay for each hire and boy or girl treatment. But 211 operators in Lake County hooked her up with YWCA child treatment, monetary aid for a safety deposit, 3 months’ rent, and a landlord who’d acknowledge both equally.

“I by no means would have recognized if I did not contact 211,” Mary stated in a video job interview with United Way, which can help sponsor the support. She now has a one secure career and a household. “I sense like 211 … has served me tremendously.”

A comparable 211 company has just lately appear to DuPage County, and additional are prepared to launch early subsequent 12 months — probably on Feb. 11 — in Chicago, suburban Cook County, and Kendall County. 211, like the improved recognised 911 for emergencies and Chicago’s 311 for metropolis providers, puts callers in touch with nonemergency well being and social products and services.

Phyllis Gary, an ingestion and referral specialist with the new 211 hotline in DuPage County, responses calls on Nov. 17, 2022, in Wheaton. The new 211 social service hotline lately started in DuPage County. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

The most common providers are enable shelling out hire and utilities, but they also incorporate free and confidential disaster counseling, disaster guidance, food items pantries, overall health treatment, insurance plan, employment, and veterans products and services.

Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will are amongst the many counties that present the support in Illinois. As a whole, the point out lags behind the rest of the country in utilizing the hotline, with almost fifty percent of its counties continue to without.

But as soon as Chicago and Kendall appear on-line early upcoming year, practically 90{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} of the state’s populace will be protected.

In DuPage, the second most populated county in Illinois after Cook, officers established apart $1.6 million in federal American Rescue Approach Act money to fund the plan for the first a few years.

The round-the-clock, multilingual phone lender will be operated by Addison Consolidated Dispatch Middle, which also provides 911 dispatch products and services, County Board Chairman Dan Cronin claimed.

“We are thrilled to introduce however another ingredient of DuPage County’s solution of strengthening our social services safety net,” Cronin stated.

Anticipating elevated desires for the duration of and following the COVID pandemic, DuPage officials also have delivered tens of millions of dollars in funding to beef up the county’s social solutions. That included buying and transforming a previous Red Roof Inn in Downers Grove for PADS to use as a homeless shelter.

Expenses change by county. Kane County, whose services is presented by Path, has an annual spending budget of about $86,000. The additional populous Lake County, which has dealt with 150,000 calls in a few a long time, has a spending plan approaching $500,000, with funding from the county, local governments, foundations and personal contributors.

Phone calls have elevated noticeably since the onset of the COVID pandemic. Apart from the mobile phone hotline, persons can entry services in quite a few counties via 211 web-sites. Past yr, Lake County counted more than 57,000 contacts with 211 — most of them on-line.

But it generally can help to communicate to a 211 operator, United Way of Lake County spokeswoman Lori Nerheim stated.

“The reward of speaking to another person is they are trained navigators to get to the root of the need,” she stated. “Many men and women may simply call with one particular need, say housing, but it may well be result of domestic violence, or there might be a food have to have. Getting another person to guideline you is genuinely important.”

Also using federal American Rescue Strategy resources, Kendall County has budgeted $136,000 for its software by way of 2025, county Administrator Scott Koeppel mentioned. Outgoing County Board Chairman Scott Gryder aided to set up the system as a result of a nonprofit agency, Koeppel stated.

The up coming action is to make certain persons know about the amount. Only 21{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} of Lake County people realized about the 211 provider in a current county study.

“Ultimately, we want it to be as memorable as 911,” United Way of Lake County President Kristi Extended claimed.

DuPage County board member Julie Renehan claimed officers hope 30,000 to 40,000 calls for aid a year.

“211 meets genuine requires in actual time,” she mentioned. “It’s the quantity to call when you don’t know who to connect with. This is a person we can all be proud of.”

Tackle systemic racism to diversify health care and clinical research

Decolonizing science

Science is steeped in injustice and exploitation. Scientific insights from marginalized people have been erased, natural-history specimens have been taken without consent and genetics data have been manipulated to back eugenics movements. Without acknowledgement and redress of this legacy, many people from minority ethnic groups have little trust in science and certainly don’t feel welcome in academia — an ongoing barrier to the levels of diversity that many universities claim to pursue.

In the next of a short series of articles about decolonizing the biosciences, Tung Nguyen, who was appointed associate vice-chancellor for research inclusion, diversity, equity and anti-racism at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in September, offers advice for reforms in health research. Nguyen, a health-equity researcher who is also the director of the UCSF Asian American Research Center on Health, says anti-racism efforts start with engaging underserved communities and nurturing diverse trainees in health research and health care.

I studied medicine because I didn’t see health care and health research addressing the needs of the Asian community in the San Francisco Bay area — the part of California where I moved, as an 11-year-old non-English speaker, when my family emigrated from Vietnam. For the past 20 years, I’ve been doing health-equity research, focusing on cancer interventions.

In this country, the health-research world has many aspects that are anti-Asian. A lack of data on one racial identity is always a sign of racism because it essentially means that a portion of the population is invisible. For example, we know that about one-third to one-half of Asian Americans don’t speak English well enough to take a medical survey conducted in English. The ‘Asian’ responses to such a survey will include only English speakers; in addition, all of the ‘Asian’ respondents will be lumped together, despite the diversity of Asian cultures.

Lack of urgency

Although some institutions are trying to hire diverse candidates, there is a fundamental lack of urgency when it comes to addressing systemic racism. The issues I’ve mentioned are all structural problems. I think that there can be no systematic change without engaging everyone involved — from medical-department heads to members of the communities that institutions purportedly serve.

In 2020, my colleagues and I created an anti-racism task force at the University of California, San Francisco. Using a community-engagement approach, we convened a committee of 25 members, including institutional and community leaders, staff, faculty members and trainees. Over the course of a year, we solicited information throughout the university and produced a report with 160 recommendations — ranging from funding for research that investigates the structures that sustain racism, to conducting more community engagement in scholarship.

Most institutions are too top-down. I’ve learnt that the academic hierarchy is a basic challenge to doing equity work on campuses. White men tend to be over-represented among faculty members, whereas non-faculty staff members tend to include more women and under-represented minority groups. We make sure the staff and faculty members meet and are mindful of — and acknowledge — the power dynamics that exist. Otherwise, our efforts wouldn’t be inclusive.

To better diversify recruitment of study participants, in 2021, my colleagues and I created the Research Action Group for Equity, or RAGE — an acronym we deliberately chose because we are angry about the lack of minority-health data and participation, and we want to make things uncomfortable for the powers that be. RAGE works with the UCSF Clinical & Translational Science Institute to make sure that recruitment is an inclusive process. We engage community leaders who are bicultural or bilingual to provide translation support or address cultural concerns.

Decolonizing science toolkit

If my colleagues and I can diversify the health-care workforce at UCSF, we can definitely improve the economic status of diverse communities as well as the reach of biomedical research into those communities. We have a US National Institutes of Health BUILD award to address the lack of diversity among biomedical researchers. If you want minority students and trainees, you have got to go to where they are. In our case, we recruited trainees from San Francisco State University, a Hispanic-focused, minority-serving institution. We trained these junior research and health professionals to become, for example, clinical research coordinators to manage studies and conduct experiments.

This expands the job opportunities available to these trainees and diversifies participation in research. But when people talk about efforts to increase the numbers of early-career scholars from diverse backgrounds, I hate the term ‘pipeline programme’. ‘Pipeline’ implies that you have to fit into a pipeline to begin with and you come out the other end, where the system wants you to come out. Furthermore, if the pipeline is producing a steady stream of talented PhDs from under-represented communities but the system does not increase the number of senior roles these people hold, it’s not a pipeline problem. Instead, it’s a dam problem — pun intended; there are structural barriers to workplace diversity that need to be removed.

UCSF has its own continuing challenges in terms of anti-racism efforts, but the institution has been transparent. It has a dashboard that highlights racial, ethnic and gender diversity among faculty members, staff and trainees. The situation fluctuates, and the numbers have never been great for typically under-represented groups in medicine, such as Black and Hispanic people. But it’s important that the problem be visible so that we can actually improve.

It’s frustrating that successful diversity, equity and inclusivity programmes often don’t get sustained. Under-represented groups are used to people coming in with money and then leaving. I have helped to develop the AEIOU principles, which will be the foundation of my work as the newly appointed associate vice-chancellor for research inclusion, diversity, equity and anti-racism. A is for accountability and anti-racism, E is for engagement, I is for individual-centred institutional change, O is opportunity, and U is unity. These principles are key to making progress against racism. The system has to change for under-represented groups to be successful, and that requires an increase in opportunities. Oppressive structures maintain oppression by making people perceive a zero-sum game — if someone wins, someone else has to lose. To increase diversity, equity and justice, we need to quit pitting one group against another.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What medical mysteries can teach us about getting better health care

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Who doesn’t love a good mystery?

For 15 years, medical reporter Sandra G. Boodman has chased down the most unusual, quirkiest and weirdest medical cases for her monthly Medical Mysteries series. Recent stories have focused on a teenager who couldn’t wake up, a woman wrongly diagnosed with ALS, and an entire family and guest felled by a strange flu-like illness.

I checked in with Sandra to find out more about how she writes the column and the lessons we can learn from it.

Here’s our edited conversation.

Q. How do you choose your ideas?

A: It has to be something I haven’t written about. It has to be a solved case. I need to know the ultimate diagnosis. Even though it’s a solved case, there has to be a mystery. And there has to be a human story.

Q. Once you pick a case, how do you report it?

A: I ask for a chronology of events and medical records that confirm the diagnosis. The medical records and chronology enable me to see whether, indeed, this is a mystery, whether it unfolded in an interesting way. Will this be an interesting case?

Then, I interview the patient, sometimes the parent, sometimes the spouse. The last step is to talk to the doctor who made the diagnosis or the current treating physicians. Any step along the way, the process can fail.

Q. Do you write about unsolved cases?

A. No, it has to be a solved case. A lot of people write to me and say, “I have this problem, can you help me?” Unfortunately, that’s not what I do. I did once write about a lawyer in Detroit who had gone to the undiagnosed-disease program at the National Institutes of Health. He’s seen more than 100 doctors and still doesn’t have an answer. But I thought his case was so unusual and interesting, I did make an exception that time.

Q. What are some of your most memorable medical mysteries?

A: I wrote about a family that kept getting recurrent strep throat. They couldn’t figure it out. An enterprising veterinarian got involved. It turned out their cat may have been the vector. When they finally treated the cat, nobody has had strep.

One of the weirder ones — there was a woman who had serious kidney and heart problems. It turned out she was eating too much licorice. That was really odd.

And I still vividly remember a State Department worker who had terrible itching on her head at night. She had even been worked up for a type of cancer. She had seen multiple dermatologists. It turned out she had head lice for an entire year. How did they miss that? That was really stunning.

Q. What have you learned about the medical system from writing about medical mysteries?

A. Medical care has become increasingly specialized. Doctors are familiar with a small slice of what’s going on, yet diagnosis is an inherently complex process. I also think time pressures are worsening. It’s like: “You’ve got 10 minutes. Go.” That’s not going to work with a complicated problem.

I also think sometimes patients are not good at describing the problems. The people who tend to do better are organized and can describe their symptoms in a way that is intelligible for a doctor.

Q. What’s your best advice to patients for getting better medical care?

A. Primary-care doctors can really help a patient. I often see people who go right to specialists. They may not have a primary-care doctor, or they use urgent care when they’re sick. That can be problematic. People really undervalue the role of a good primary-care doctor.

The 2022 Well+Being Gift Guide

Need a gift idea? The Well+Being team shared our favorite finds for cooking, exercising, spending time at home, improving our mental health, presents for your pets and more.

Some gifts are practical and affordable; others are definite splurges. I just bought air fryers for my family members because our Eating Lab columnist Anahad O’Connor recommended it. Runners will appreciate the perfect running shorts recommended by fitness writer Kelyn Soong. Amanda Morris, who writes about disability, suggested hearing-aid jewelry. Reporter Teddy Amenabar has found the perfect traveling coffee mug.

There are lots to choose from, and every item brought us closer to living healthy, fulfilled lives. We hope they do the same for you and your loved ones this year.

Please let us know how we are doing. Email me at wellbeing@washpost.com.

Can diet, exercise cure Type 2 diabetes? How one woman beat it

As President Joe Biden noted on the steps of the White House when he proclaimed November National Diabetes Month, the disease — particularly Type 2 diabetes — is an American problem that isn’t going away.

According to statistics from the American Diabetes Association, nearly 5,000 people are diagnosed with Type 2 every day, adding up to 34 million Americans — about 1 in 10 — who are currently battling the disease.

“I call on all Americans to join in activities that raise diabetes awareness and help prevent, treat, and manage this disease,” urged the president.

Or, in Jody’s case, reverse it.

* * *

Jody Reid, a mother of three who reversed her Type 2 diabetes through exercise and diet, right, runs with daughter Kaylyn,13, during a fitness class at Roy CrossFit in Roy on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022.

Jody Reid is a 36-year-old mother of three with many diabetic relatives, a sweet tooth, a desk job at the IRS — and a membership to the Roy CrossFit workout gym.

All these factors contribute to her story. One that begins in despair and ends in her joining a rare club of people who once were diabetic, and now aren’t.

Unbeknown to her, Jody’s battle with diabetes began when she was born. A long line of aunts, uncles, grandparents, on both sides, had contracted Type 2 diabetes before her, suggesting a strong genetic disposition to the disease.

Then there’s her affection for sweets. As she puts it, given a choice between kale and a KitKat, “I’ll take the KitKat every time.”

Add in the job she’s held at the IRS since 2006 that requires sitting at a desk for eight hours a day.

If that sounds like a recipe looking for a diabetes diagnosis … well, it was in Jody’s case.

She was just 31 when the doctors warned her she was prediabetic — a danger zone where your sugar level numbers are trending in the wrong direction (it’s estimated 94 million Americans are prediabetic).

In response, Jody joined a gym. She chose a crossfit gym near her home — CrossFit workouts feature high intensity interval training, usually in groups — because her sister, Jenny, had joined a CrossFit gym and “lost a bunch of weight.”

“I thought I’d be able to exercise my way out of it,” Jody says. Plus she’d drop some pounds in the process.

Instead, just the opposite occurred.

Based on someone mistakenly advising her, “If you’re CrossFitting you can eat whatever you want,” before and after workouts she continued to inhale the candy and chocolates she kept stashed in her car’s console.

She gained weight.

Worse, at the beginning of 2019 her blood work revealed she had crossed the line from prediabetic to full-fledged Type 2 diabetes. The doctor sent her home with Metformin, the starter medication often given to new diabetics.

She came to the gym that day sobbing. She found plenty of sympathy, but she also found a stern warning from her coach, Van Aston, who is also a physician’s assistant.

“I get emotional talking about it,” says Jody, “but he just looked at me and he said, ‘You have to take this seriously. This disease kills people every day.’

“That scared me. Nobody had put it that harshly, and I needed it to rock my world. I’d been in denial, avoiding the truth, because it was hard to swallow the pill that I was doing it to myself.”

Shortly after that, the gym sponsored a nutrition challenge. Jody signed up. She was committed with a capital C. She cut out the junk food, she educated herself about proper nutrition and added healthy food to her diet. She drank 100 ounces of water a day. She put in her 10,000 steps. She attended CrossFit classes six days a week.

Her weight plummeted to 160 pounds (she’d been 220 when she joined the gym two years earlier). Her energy returned. She could tie her shoes without having to take a break. When she got in the car there was a big gap between her stomach and the steering wheel.

And those were just the hors d’oeuvres.

In July she went back to the doctor for her six-month checkup.

“They take your blood work and tell you they’ll call the next day if there’s anything to report,” she explains.

The next day her phone rang.

“This cute little nurse said, ‘Your numbers are awesome. You have reversed the Type 2 diabetes. They are so good you’re not even prediabetic any more.’”

After celebrating with her husband and kids, Jody was back at the gym, sobbing again. But this time, instead of sympathy, she received “high-fives, hugs, tears.” The same people who commiserated with her in January celebrated with her in July.

“We did the happy dance,” remembers gym owner Kevin Lundell. “It was a big freakin’ deal.”

* * *

Jody Reid, a mother of three who reversed her Type 2 diabetes through exercise and diet, participates in a fitness class at Roy CrossFit in Roy on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022.

Three years have come and gone since Jody reversed her diabetes. She continues to eat better. She admits she has her lapses. “I’m still addicted to sweets,” she says, confessing to what she calls “a bender” she went on during the holidays last year.

She was relieved when her blood work numbers were still OK after that. “I thought I was doing awful but I think overall my habits are significantly better than the behavior that led to the Type 2 diabetes. The changes and choices I made then influence the choices I make today.

“I’m not perfect, but now I know about nutrition and what I need to do to stay healthy. It’s hard work. It’s not always uphill, it’s not always downhill, but it’s never a straight line.”

Her CrossFit classes remain a daily staple.

“How awesome this CrossFit community is,” she says, “to be surrounded by people who want to be healthier, who want you to be healthier, who cheer you on to do hard things. I’m way healthier in my 30s than I was in my 20s, and happier. It’s easier to live life when you’re feeling better.”

Jody Reid, a mother of three who reversed her Type 2 diabetes through exercise and diet, is pictured at Roy CrossFit in Roy on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022.

How to maintain a healthy lifestyle when managing a startup

Start-up businesses can turn into something successful. They may be providing new, fresh out of the box solutions for their customers or clients. Things seem to look fine on the outside, right?

However, there’s something about the start-up culture that not a lot of people know about. We’ll reveal information about the downsides and what it can do to someone involved. Work pressure can be normal, yet it can get to be a little much.

We’ll talk about the risks that are involved and present you with alternative ideas. If you are someone involved with a start-up, take this guide to heart. Let’s get started.

Drugs as a self-medication opportunity

One of the things that leads to drug abuse and addiction is self-medicating. People may use illegal drugs to cope with the stress of working at a start-up. They may use it to escape reality or bad moods.

Needless to say, this should never be the case. If you or someone you know is dealing with drug abuse or addiction, you can read more about getting help via Epiphany Wellness. Drug abuse and addiction can have fatal consequences if nothing changes.

Instead of using drugs to self-medicate, you can find ways to destress such as practicing regular mindfulness. Even if it’s a small amount of time to meditate and breathe, it should help you become more centered and relaxed.

Late nights can mean poor sleep quality

The average adult needs at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. This will help them perform at optimal levels. Plus, it will give them a good amount of energy to get through the day.

A lack of sleep can lead to a lack of mental sharpness. You can also find yourself being stressed out more often. Working long hours and getting little sleep can take its toll.

That’s why it is important for you to find that work/home balance. You’ll want to be in the office and out of it at certain times. Another thing you need to do is lighten your workload.

This means delegating tasks to other people. You’ll need to automate tasks, if possible. Focus on the priority tasks.

Encourage your employees to get whatever they can do. Don’t push them so hard to the point where they have to stay up late. You want employees to stay sharp and be well-rested.

When people are well-rested, they are happier. They are more productive. Those good moods can spread from one person to another.

Before you know it, you and your startup team will be operating in-sync like nothing else.

Eating patterns are not the best

A poor diet can lead to a lot of consequences. Especially if you are resorting to eating fast food or other junk every day. Obesity is still a problem in the United States.

With poor eating habits, it opens the door to poor health. That’s why it is important to make plans to eat healthy, even if you don’t have time to cook. Consider healthier options if you are at a restaurant or at a place like Panera Bread or Chipotle.

Instead of reaching for the sugary soft drinks, opt for water. Instead of the potato chips, a fruit cup can be the perfect substitute. Block a small amount of time at some point each week to plan your meals.

Make a trip to the store or have it delivered (if possible). Your poor diet shouldn’t happen because you can’t find the time to eat healthy. This should also coincide with another thing we’ll be discussing next.

Little to no exercise

Start-ups require us to sit for long periods of time. Most of them in front of a computer screen. The issue here is that we may sit for an hour or more without getting up or moving around.

This can lead to health issues in the future. Especially cardiovascular issues associated with being sedentary all the time. Every 60 to 90 minutes, you’ll want to get up and move around for 15 minutes.

It can be a quick walk, stretches, or finding a quiet place to crank out pushups or squats. Keeping yourself in motion on a regular basis will keep the blood flowing. You’ll be warding off all kinds of health issues such as high blood pressure, COPD, obesity, and other things that can be fatal in the long run.

Allowing stress to fester

Deadlines need to be met. The pressure is building up like nothing else. If you allow stress to go unchecked, it can lead to all sorts of health problems. We’re not just talking physically either.

Stress that isn’t managed very well can lead to mental health issues. You won’t be able to function properly. You won’t be able to be as productive as you want.

Once again, delegating such tasks to lighten your workload will reduce this stress. Practicing regular mindfulness will also help as well. Stress is unavoidable, but it can be manageable.

The key here is to not let it get to you at all. Take advantage of going for a walk during one of your breaks. Clear your head and regroup before continuing where you left off.

You don’t have to put as much pressure on yourself than you have to. Neither should your start-up employees that are helping you reach the business goals (especially the more time-sensitive ones).

Final Thoughts

The start-up culture can be stressful. It can be demanding. It can lead to unhealthy choices that will be costly even in the long-term.

However, it’s all up to you to consider healthier alternatives. Can you manage a start-up while maintaining a healthy life? Yes you can.

Get in the mindset that good habits will conquer the bad ones. You don’t need to use drugs to combat stress or eat garbage foods because it’s easily accessible and affordable. You owe it to yourself to maintain a healthy lifestyle, even when you’re charting your own course for success.

Is it Covid, flu or RSV? Chart compares differences in symptoms

Covid, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are together driving a national wave of respiratory illnesses.

Around 76{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} of U.S. hospital inpatient beds are full, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services. Pediatric beds are at a similar level, though six states have 90{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} or more of their pediatric beds full, according to an NBC News analysis of HHS data.

Covid, flu and RSV can be difficult to distinguish, since they share many common symptoms. But it’s useful to know which virus you have, since that determines the treatments you should receive and how long you should isolate.

Certain hallmarks — either symptoms or how the illness progresses — can help differentiate each virus. Here are five factors to consider.

Some symptoms are unique to particular viruses

A runny nose, cough, congestion or sore throat can arise because of any of the three viruses or a common cold. But a loss of taste and smell is more commonly associated with Covid than with flu or RSV. And wheezing is often a tell-tale sign of a serious RSV infection, usually found in kids or older adults.

The only way to know for certain, though, is to get tested.

“I don’t think anybody would ever go, ‘Hey, listen, I think you have a virus based on your symptoms,’ and feel confident to say what virus that is,” said Dr. Frank Esper, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Cleveland Clinic.

Are symptoms coming on gradually or all of a sudden?

Flu symptoms tend to develop more suddenly than those of Covid or RSV.

“Flu classically comes on with an abrupt fever first that happens pretty quickly. That’s somewhat contrasted by RSV and Covid, where we think of a slow escalation in symptoms,” said Dr. Scott Roberts, a Yale Medicine infectious disease specialist.

How long has it been since exposure?

The illnesses have different incubation periods — the time between exposure and symptoms. On average, flu symptoms tend to develop two days after exposure to the virus, whereas RSV symptoms tend to take around four to six days to appear, and Covid’s typical incubation is three to four days for the omicron variant.

“If I go to a party and I get symptoms the next day, it’s probably flu because that can be as short as 24 hours’ incubation period,” Roberts said.

Age makes a big difference in a disease’s symptoms and severity

RSV is unlikely to make a healthy adult feel very sick, whereas Covid and flu certainly can.

“In general, if you’re a young healthy adult or you’re not in an extreme of age, and you get pretty severe illness, it’s probably not RSV,” Roberts said.

The groups most vulnerable to severe RSV infections are babies, children with lung diseases, adults ages 65 and up and people with weakened immune systems.

Symptoms can also look different depending on your age and immune status. Many kids are encountering respiratory viruses for the first time this year as they return to regular schooling and socializing, so their bodies may have a harder time clearing the infection, which can lead to more wide-ranging symptoms.

According to Esper, almost a fourth of children have gastrointestinal symptoms (like diarrhea, stomach pain or vomiting) from viral infections. That’s less common in adults with seasonal flu or RSV.

People with weakened immune systems, meanwhile, are more likely to develop severe symptoms or pneumonia from any of the three viruses.

Consider which virus is circulating the most in your community

Disease experts anticipate that Covid cases will climb over the holidays as more people travel and gather indoors. Average daily cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have already risen nearly 11{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} over the last two weeks, according to NBC News’ tally.

But it’s difficult to determine local Covid transmission levels, since many people use at-home tests. RSV and flu tests, by contrast, are performed at a doctor’s office or ordered via prescription.

RSV infections seem to have passed their peak nationally. Although the CDC does not keep a national count of RSV cases, the number of positive weekly tests fell from more than 17,000 in the week ending Nov. 5 to around 9,000 in the week ending on Saturday.

Is it Covid, flu or RSV? Chart compares differences in symptoms

By contrast, flu cases are skyrocketing. The national share of influenza tests that came back positive rose from around 8{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} in the week ending Oct. 30 to nearly 15{bf0515afdcaddba073662ceb89fbb62b6b1bf123143c0e06b788e1946e8c353f} in the week ending Nov. 13. Flu hospitalizations are the highest they’ve been at this time of year in more than a decade.

Esper said he expects the Cleveland Clinic to be “swimming in flu” two weeks from now.

The picture varies by region, however. In the Northeast, Roberts said, “we saw RSV surge over the last one to two months and it’s actually plateaued — which is great news — and then flu, only the past few weeks we’re seeing an exponential rise.”

“The Southeast U.S. — Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi — they saw kind of the opposite. They saw initially a surge in flu, and then now you’re seeing RSV start to catch up,” he added.

Available treatments and vaccines

Unlike Covid and the flu, there are no vaccines or universally prescribed treatments for RSV.

“RSV scares me the most, probably, because you can’t do anything about it and so many young kids haven’t seen it. We’re really seeing record surges in our pediatric hospitals,” Roberts said.

To reduce the length of flu symptoms, though, doctors usually prescribe Tamiflu or one of three other approved treatments. For some people with Covid, doctors can prescribe Paxlovid.

Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator, emphasized the benefits of getting flu shots and Covid boosters.

“In this moment where we have a lot of flu, still have a decent amount of RSV, still got a good amount of Covid, the single most important thing people need to do is go get vaccinated,” Jha said at a Tuesday briefing. “It keeps you out of the hospital.”