Hospitals across the country are seeing an uptick in respiratory illnesses and RSV cases are quickly rising on Delmarva.
With flu season upon us and Covid-19 still lingering, some healthcare workers are concerned that hospitals may not be able to keep up.
Some are calling this a "tripledemic" and said now is the time to take necessary precautions.
According to Delaware's Division of Public Health (DPH), there have been over 200 confirmed cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in the first state, and 98 of those cases were reported in just one week.
DPH officials say although the virus most commonly infects children under the age of two, kids are not the only ones at risk.
"A lot of cases at this point are due to kids being back in school," said Lisandra Clarke of DPH. "We do see RSV affecting the younger individuals but of course it can infect older people who have underlying health issues so we do have to pay attention to that as well."
With three different viruses going around, the DPH said hospitals are dealing with longer wait times.
Dr. Brintha Vasagar, a family medicine specialist at Bayhealth, said it's important to use emergency medical services responsibly.
"I know the gut instinct for families can be to go to the emergency room," said Dr. Vasagar. "But that's where our job is. We are happy to see you as family medicine physicians or pediatricians."
RSV is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms including fever, cough, congestion, runny nose, sneezing, and in infants, fussiness and poor feeding.
Dr. Megan Mickley, a pediatrician at ChristianaCare, tells us what specific symptoms warrant a visit to the emergency room.
"Signs of difficulty breathing that might be a fast breathing rate or a hard breathing rate," said Dr. Mickley. "Or signs that the fingertips or lips are blue may demonstrate that the child needs a little more support."
Although there is no vaccine in RSV, the Division of Public Health is urging people to get vaccinated for both the flu and Covid-19.
RSV can become severe, especially in young infants and elderly people, but according to DPH most people recover within one to two weeks.