COLUMBIA, S.C. — As respiratory virus season approaches, health officials are encouraging South Carolinians to take precautions against three respiratory illnesses we’ll see this season.
“The great news is that we have effective vaccines now for all three,” said Dr. Edward Simmer, director of SC DHEC.
Experts from Prisma Health and SC DHEC say they expect to see a continued increase in flu, COVID-19 and RSV cases in the coming months. They’re encouraging everyone to speak to their doctor about combatting this. For some, this means getting vaccinated.
“This year, the flu vaccine seems to be very well-matched to the strains of virus that are circulating and therefore should be quite effective,” Simmer said. “And we're very hopeful about that.”
For the first time, health officials are offering an RSV vaccination for people 60 and over. Plus, an RSV antibody for kids.
“We have a- what's called a monoclonal antibody that works very much like a vaccine and briefly gives the young child antibodies against the disease so that they are not impacted,” Simmer said.
Health officials also encourage getting a Covid-19 shot if you haven’t yet, or getting an updated booster shot. They say you can do this and your flu shot on the same day, but they recommend spacing out the RSV vaccination.
“With all of these vaccines, and all the vaccines we have for that matter, serious side effects are very rare,” Simmer said.
“It's just not something that's been on my priority list for that,” said Emma Farrell, a college student at USC and Columbia resident.
Farrell says she isn’t personally planning on getting any shots this season.
“But for those people who want to go get the flu vaccine, like by all means, do so,” Farrell said. “Especially if you might be immunocompromised, maybe that's the best option for you.”
Prisma Health says numbers are already up. clinics are seeing a spike in Covid-19 and RSV like they did this week last year.
“COVID was way up and still is way up. You can trust me on that,” said Dr. Helmut Albrecht, an infectious diseases physician with Prisma Health. “We see that in the clinic. Last year, week 40 was when this incredible upshot of flu and RSV happened.”
“For the fourth summer in a row, we have seen this uptick in COVID-19 cases here in the state,” said Dr. Brannon Traxler, DHEC’s Public Health director. “We were seeing 82 new COVID-19 hospital admissions for that first week in July. And that number has continued to increase in the two and a half months since then, up to 359 new COVID-19 hospitalizations during the week of September 16, which is the most recent week with clean data.”
SC DHEC says they’re doing outreach to get at-risk populations vaccinated and distributing air filtration devices in the schools to prepare for the season.