Everyone knows winter brings with it an increase in illnesses, but predicting the severity of the season can be tricky.

“It’s never easy to predict, but based on what we’ve seen in the last year or two, which was very different from what we typically see, we expect we’ll have a fairly harsh winter, but hopefully not as bad as last year,” said Dr. Leisha Nolen, state epidemiologist for the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.

Nolen said Utah is beginning to see increases in cases of COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s national wastewater surveillance system shows COVID to be very high in Utah’s wastewater.

“We’ve always been used to seeing flu and RSV worsen in the winter and that’s been true forever, but now we’re adding COVID to the mix, which is just one more thing we’ll have to continue to deal with,” Nolen said.

Nolen said while hundreds of children in China are experiencing an outbreak of mycoplasma pneumonia, it’s not as uncommon and mysterious as people might think.

“China is unique because they had restrictions in place longer, so this has been the first real winter where they didn’t have those restrictions and people are going out and being exposed to things again,” she said. “It’s really similar to what we went through when we lifted our restrictions.”

And while the U.K. is experiencing a sweep of the 100 day cough, Nolen said the low rate of vaccination could be to blame.

“We know it’s pertussis, or whooping cough and there’s a vaccine out there for it,” she said. “The vaccine rates in Britain are very low at 61% and even lower in London at 41%, so a lot of people are susceptible to whooping cough, especially babies under the age of 1 and also elderly people, so it’s really important to get vaccinated and stay on top of those vaccinations.”

Anyone over the age of 60 or those with underlying health conditions such as heart or lung disease or a weakened immune system should ask their doctor about getting the new RSV vaccine, Nolen said. Pregnant women in their third trimester can also receive the vaccine. The CDC recommends the whooping cough vaccine for babies, young children, preteens, pregnant women and adults who have never been vaccinated.

Nolen said vaccinations are one of the best ways to prevent serious illness.

“Our body’s immune system forgets after so long, and that’s why we have to get revaccinated every year,” she said. “But I think we’re going to have a mix of things and if there’s one thing I would like to stress besides getting vaccinated, it would be to stay home if you’re sick with anything so you’re not out there spreading illness around.”

Nolen said there are also a number of stomach infections going around and those tend to be highly contagious. And while there’s no vaccine for those, you can still protect yourself by practicing good hand washing hygiene and staying home if you’re not feeling well.

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