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Doctor's offices, emergency rooms packed with respiratory illness patients after holiday

For the last couple of years doctors have mostly been dealing with COVID-19. Now, they are dealing with COVID-19 and several other respiratory illnesses at once.

ST. LOUIS — Now that the holiday season has begun our area hospitals and doctor's offices are packed with patients dealing with respiratory illnesses.

Top doctors at Mercy and SSM Health said respiratory illness season is in full swing and certain illnesses are ramping up sooner than expected.

“The latest report showed that RSV had probably already peaked and was starting to come down. So that's good that that was starting to loosen up. Our flu cases for being admitted to the hospital were just about equivalent to our COVID cases, which is good and bad. It's good that our COVID is not going out of control, but it's bad that we're seeing so many flu admissions this early in the year,” SSM Health Chief Community Health Officer Dr. Alex Garza said.

After the Thanksgiving holiday, Mercy’s Chair of the Department of Medicine Dr. Farrin Manian wants you to keep a close eye on symptoms as it can take days for them to pop up.

“COVID has gotten a little bit shorter than the original strain. So, the average incubation is like three to four days. Whereas influenza, is on average, one to two days,” Dr. Manian said.

Dr. Garza said right now primary care, urgent care and emergency rooms are very busy but it’s manageable, and examining your symptoms at home can keep it that way.

“If you're young, otherwise healthy, don't have any serious signs and symptoms aside from a fever and a cough but aren't feeling short of breath, stuff like that, home remedies are still a good bet,” Dr. Garza said.

Dr. Manian said the good news is the vaccines are working, flu shots in particular.

“It really looks like the strains that are in the vaccine have quite a bit of similarity with what's going around, at least in animal studies,” Garza said.

This similarity means it is still not too late to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and the flu.

Doctors said we still have a long season ahead and if you do get sick it is best to at a minimum get tested to know which respiratory illness you have.

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