(Los Angeles) — Two couples have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and they’re sharing their stories to encourage others to consider giving the gift of organ donation.
Christine “Chris” Morales and Debbie Thompson have been best friends since they were kids. The two grew up together in California and remained close even after they both married.
“We got married a year apart; we got engaged a year apart,” Chris Morales said. “We’ve just done everything together.”
But for years, Chris Morales was keeping a secret, even from her best friend.
In 2015, Morales couldn’t keep the secret anymore and finally decided to tell Thompson that she had a genetic disorder called polycystic kidney disease, which had been damaging her kidneys over time, and needed a new kidney.
When Thompson found out about her best friend’s health issues, she quickly knew what she wanted to do to help.
“I said, ‘Well, you can have mine!'” Thompson recalled. “I didn’t even know what the process was.”
Thompson underwent medical testing and learned she and Morales were a blood type match. After six months, Thompson was cleared to donate her kidney to her best friend. The surgery was a success and Thompson said if she had to do it all over again, she would.
“She calls the kidney little Deb!” Thompson said. “She always says little Deb is doin’ good.”
Then, two years ago, the unthinkable happened again. Morales’ husband, Ron Morales, who has Type 2 diabetes, learned he would also need a kidney transplant.
Even though Ron Morales kept his health struggles a secret initially, Debbie and her husband, Brad Thompson, would later find out and Brad Thompson didn’t hesitate when he gave Ron Morales a call.
“He called me up over the phone and said, ‘Hey, I hear you need some extra body parts,'” Ron Morales recalled.
The two then followed in their wives’ footsteps and went through their own successful surgeries together.
But there were at least a couple of things that weren’t exactly the same. Since the two men weren’t a blood type match, Ron Morales needed to get blood transfusions to prepare his immune system to not reject Brad Thompson’s kidney.
“I said, ‘You can’t call it little Brad, and you can’t bring me flowers on the anniversary like Chris does,'” Brad Thompson joked.
According to the nonprofit United Network for Organ Sharing, nearly 25,000 Americans — a new record — received kidney transplants in 2021 alone.
Ron Morales’ transplant surgeon, Dr. Tsuyoshi Todo, remains in awe of the match between Ron and Brad.
“In the seven or so years I have been doing this, I have never seen anything like this. I think it’s very unique,” he said. “I am glad they were able to find each other.”
(NEW YORK) — With Americans about to celebrate a third Thanksgiving since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, infectious disease doctors say it may be safe to celebrate with slightly more relaxed rules this year.
“It’s important to just recognize we are in a very different place from two years ago. This population is getting more and more immune,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease physician at the University of California San Francisco.
“The most important thing is having balance. This is a tough time. It’s important to see our family and our loved ones if we can,” said Dr. Rupa Patel, a research associate professor at Washington University School of Medicine.
With multiple viruses circulating this fall including COVID-19, influenza and RSV, infectious disease specialists agreed that basic lessons learned during the pandemic can go a long way in preventing the spread of disease. That includes frequent hand washing, cracking a window for better circulation, staying home when sick and staying up-to-date with COVID-19 boosters and flu shots.
“What [the public] can do is balance risks and benefits. And there is no simple formula,” said Dr. Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic’s vaccine research group in Rochester, Minnesota.
When it comes to testing before family gatherings, infectious disease experts interviewed by ABC News universally agreed that anyone with cold and flu symptoms should seek a COVID-19 test. Even people without symptoms should consider testing if someone at their gathering is vulnerable to serious illness, including people who are unvaccinated, immune compromised or the elderly.
“Live life, but stay home if you feel sick,” said Dr. Whitney Minnock, director of pediatric emergency medicine at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital.
Always test with symptoms
Experts were split on the need for asymptomatic testing but many agreed that it’s no longer necessary to test before every single gathering, travel or major event.
For most people in most situations, “you don’t need to test unless you have symptoms,” said Dr. Jay Varma, director of the Cornell Center for Pandemic Prevention and Response. With tests no longer free through the federal government, frequent asymptomatic testing may no longer be possible for many families.
“If you are symptomatic, test obviously,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the division of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “This is a communicable disease. No one, as I say, wants to be a dreaded spreader.”
People with any symptoms of any viral illness should stay home. If staying home isn’t possible, people with symptoms should wear a high-quality mask, the experts said.
“I think the right guidance is to isolate for as long as you can, until your antigen test is negative,” Varma said. “Alternatively, wearing a high-quality mask, an N95 mask, and going about daily activities, including potentially being on a plane if you have to, are a reasonable way of minimizing harm to other people.”
Consider testing around the vulnerable
Because many people can spread COVID-19 without showing any symptoms, experts said it’s a good idea to test in situations where vulnerable people might be exposed.
“If you are going to be around people who are more vulnerable … you might want to [test] so that you can prevent that from happening,” said Chin-Hong.
Added Patel: “I think the responsibility of testing is … where am I going, who is the audience and where have I been?”
Similarly, people who are members of those high-risk groups should seek COVID-19 and flu testing at the first possible symptom because treatments work best when given early.
“If you’re in a high-risk group and you develop any kind of symptoms, please be tested, both for COVID and for influenza, because we have treatments for you. We can help prevent your needing to be hospitalized,” Schaffner said.
Take other steps to reduce risk
Although COVID-19 is still serious, it is a risk that many Americans are willing to adopt to resume a semi-normal way of life, according to Varma.
That said, everyone can take concrete steps to minimize risk, including vaccinations and basic prevention tips.
“I think this is the winter that people are going to get together,” said Chin-Hong.
Dr. Amy Arrington, a medical director at Texas Children’s Hospital, said it’s “important to continue the things that we have learned work,” including new COVID-19 booster shots.
“You also have to remember that your actions affect other people,” said Anne Rimoin, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. “As we move further and further along out of the most acute phase of the pandemic, it doesn’t mean that risk mitigation measures aren’t worthwhile.”
Even for the vaccinated, COVID-19 infection isn’t always trivial. Many patients will go on to experience long-COVID, or lingering symptoms that can last for months after infection.
“The evidence is increasingly compelling that long COVID can present serious, long-term health consequences,” Rimoin said.
“I think there’s definitely a light at the end of the tunnel but I don’t think we’re there quite yet,” said Arrington. “I hate for us to just loosen the reins [and] go back to a totally pre-pandemic way.”
Added Minnock: “If we head into the holidays and everybody is scared, that is not good for mental health. I plan on being with my family this Thanksgiving. But some important precautions will be part of our celebration.”
(NEW YORK) — Already facing a challenging respiratory season, pediatricians in Ohio are now dealing with another foe: measles.
According to statistics provided to ABC News by the Columbus Public Health Department (CPHD), as of Tuesday afternoon, 19 children have contracted the virus.
Nearly half of these children were hospitalized due to severe symptoms of the infection. Almost half were under 5 years old.
The rate of children requiring hospitalization during this outbreak was nearly double what’s typically seen during measles outbreaks, Dr. Matthew Washam, pediatrician and chief of epidemiology at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, told ABC News.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told ABC News that it is deploying a team to Ohio to assist with mitigating the outbreak.
Here’s what to know about the outbreak, why these rare cases occur and how Americans can protect themselves against the virus:
Is measles serious?
Measles is a very contagious disease with the CDC saying every individual infected by the virus can spread it to up to 10 close contacts, if they are unprotected including not wearing a mask or not being vaccinated.
Complications from measles can be relatively benign, like rashes, or they can be much more severe, like viral sepsis, pneumonia, or brain swelling.
“The impression that measles is a trivial infection akin to the common cold with a rash, that is incorrect,” Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told ABC News. “Measles is a very nasty virus.”
“Before we had the measles vaccine in the United States, 400 to 500 children died of measles and its complications each and every year. So, measles can make you very, very sick,” he continued.
Am I protected from measles?
The CDC says anybody who either had measles at some point in their life or who has received two doses of the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine is protected against measles.
One dose of the measles vaccine is 93% effective at preventing infection if exposed to the virus. Two doses are 97% effective.
Schaffner said there is no reason for anyone who has been vaccinated to receive a booster dose when isolated outbreaks occur.
“If you’ve had those two doses of the measles vaccine, you’re protected essentially for life,” he said.
In 2000, measles was declared eradicated from the U.S. thanks to the highly effective vaccination campaign.
Why did this outbreak occur?
The CDC team deploying to Ohio will also assist with investigating the outbreak’s origins, given that children across 12 schools/daycares have contracted the virus so far.
The fact that these infections occurred over a two-week timespan is throwing another wrench in efforts to track down the outbreak’s origins.
Recent research from the World Health Organization described the “largest continued backslide in vaccinations in three decades” due to missed routine care during the pandemic.
In the U.S., a May study found one-third of American parents reported a child with a missed vaccination due to barriers imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, according to Kelli Newman, director in the CPHD Office of Public Affairs and Communications, “our investigation so far points to vaccine hesitancy and choosing not to be vaccinated” as the driver for the outbreak.
What is vaccine hesitancy?
Vaccine hesitancy is defined as delaying or refusing vaccination despite their widespread availability.
Accordingly, CPHD’s conclusion so far fits with a troublesome trend sweeping the United States — and beyond.
Even before the pandemic, reluctance around getting vaccines was hitting a fever pitch. Vaccine hesitancy was named one of the top 10 threats to global health by the WHO in 2019.
In the U.S., vaccine hesitancy has been further stoked by politics.
A study by the Colorado Health Institute, a non-partisan research organization, found that COVID vaccination rates across the state were strongly correlated with counties’ political beliefs.
The MMR vaccine has been especially targeted by the vaccine hesitant community. Much of the controversy around the vaccine derives from a now retracted and discredited 1998 study from The Lancet that falsely drew a connection between the shot and rates of autism.
How can we encourage vaccination?
Despite research debunking the Lancet paper, many communities continue to grapple with misinformation around the MMR vaccine.
“Misinformation and disinformation related to vaccines continues and persists,” Washam told ABC News. “These are not conversations that can be had in five or 10 minutes or in a single visit.”
In Ohio, the health department has tried to combat this misinformation by offering walk-in MMR vaccine appointments that include one-to-one counseling with health providers.
Fortunately, despite the increasing frequency of measles outbreaks, vaccine hesitancy still remains the exception rather than the rule. CDC data shows that more than 90% of children were vaccinated against MMR by the age of two. By 17 years old, that share rises to 92%.
However, epidemiologists worry a 10% unvaccinated rate in children is the bare minimum required to stem future outbreaks. They are even more concerned about communities, like that in Ohio, where the vaccination rate is even lower.
“That 90% is not evenly distributed across the country — there are pockets of under vaccinated areas, and those are the areas that are susceptible,” Washam told ABC News. “Measles anywhere in the world is a risk for measles everywhere in the world.”
Schaffner said it is important for local public health authorities to bring trusted leaders, be they political or religious, to speak about the importance of vaccination.
“They can provide them not only information, but a sense of reassurance, a sense of comfort, letting them know that it is the appropriate thing to do for their own children’s benefit, but also for the benefit of the entire community,” Schaffner noted.
Additionally, this winter amid a so-called “tripledemic” of flu, RSV and COVID-19, experts are urging families to ensure their children are vaccinated against the flu to reduce the burden on health systems and prevent any undue harm. Vaccination rates for the flu historically hover around 60%.
“Some families say, I’m going to wait until X or Y or Z date to get the vaccine,” Washam told ABC News. “Well, this might be the year to get it a little sooner.”
(PORTLAND, Ore.) — An Oregon family is overjoyed after welcoming twins born from embryos that were frozen 30 years ago.
“They’ve been a joy to have to us and to their siblings,” dad Philip Ridgeway told Knoxville, Tennessee, ABC affiliate WATE of his new twins, Lydia and Timothy, who now make the Ridgeways a family of six.
The 30-year-old embryos have broken the record for the longest-frozen embryos to ever result in a successful live birth, according to research staff at the University of Tennessee Preston Medical Library. The embryos, which were donated by an anonymous married couple using in vitro fertilization, had originally been frozen in April 1992.
They were successfully thawed, transferred and then delivered, with assistance from the National Embryo Donation Center and Dr. John Gordon, a medical director at Southeastern Fertility in Knoxville, who was the couple’s doctor.
Lydia and Timothy were born on Oct. 31.
“We wanted to be able to go in and find embryos that had been overlooked for reasons beyond their control, that have been waiting so long for a mom and a dad,” Rachel Ridgeway, the twins’ mom, said.
Gordon told WATE, “They specifically requested the embryos that had been waiting the longest. They actually felt called to specifically say, ‘We want the embryos that everybody else has taken a pass on.'”
Scientists have estimated that there are five frozen embryos for every IVF-related live birth in the U.S. According to Gordon, there are more than 1.4 million frozen embryos waiting to be thawed and transferred.
“We just want them to always know that they were chosen, that they are loved,” Rachel Ridgeway added.
(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) — Dr. Laura Trujillo was asleep early Sunday morning when she got the call to go into work at Centura Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
At least five people were killed in a mass shooting at nearby Club Q, a nightclub that primarily serves the LGBTQ community.
Of the additional 19 people injured, in what police are investigating as a hate crime, seven were transported to Centura Penrose.
“Because it was the middle of the night and I was on call the 24 hours before, I was actually asleep when my partner called me,” Trujillo, a trauma surgeon at the hospital, told ABC News. “I got the first call a little after midnight. That’s when the word was coming into our systems that it might be possibly more than a few patients.”
Trujillo said there’s a 30-minute grace period from the time backup hospital staff are called to when they arrived, but she said it only took her 15 to 20 minutes to get to Centura Penrose.
“By that time, it was just a few minutes after EMS and the police had dropped off the patients kind of all at once, actually,” Trujillo said. “And so, we had some in the hallway who were more stable and some in the rooms.”
With an event like this, Trujillo said the first step is an assessment to make sure a patient’s breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and circulation are stable and to check the extent of the injuries.
Among patients with gunshot wounds, injuries to the arms and legs are typically less severe than injuries to the chest or abdomen, she said.
After scans to make sure there are few to no internal injuries, patients who are more stable will typically receive bedside care while those who are in critical condition will be rushed to the operating room.
“There were definitely a lot of bodies, a lot of people present, a lot of people working,” Trujillo said. “It was chaotic, but well controlled. Everyone had a role.”
She continued, “Our role as trauma surgeons is to kind of coordinate and oversee all of it. So, my partner and I were kind of spinning through rooms just sort of checking on everybody, making sure people’s vitals were stable, figuring out what imaging they needed met, or where they would be going after the ER.”
Trujillo declined to elaborate more on the injuries the Club Q victims had to prevent identifying patients but said the extent “ran from more worrisome to less.”
As of Monday morning, of the seven patients who initially were taken to Centura Penrose, four have been discharged and three remain hospitalized in stable condition.
To be declared eligible for discharge, Trujillo said patients will get evaluated, if needed, by physical and occupational therapists, to see if they need equipment to leave the hospital or enter short-term rehabilitation.
Additionally, hospital staff will make sure patients’ vitals are stable and their pain is under control.
Trujillo said although she has been trained to respond to patients who are victims of a mass shooting, it’s the first time she’s ever had to do so.
“This is the first mass casualty assistance that my partner and I have needed to be a part of,” she said. “Obviously, we’re used to taking care of a lot of patients at once but it’s something very sobering about it and sad when it happens.”
“You’re always hoping you never have to use these skills. We hate when this happens, but we’re here to serve everybody, and to make sure that everyone’s safe and protected,” she added.
(NEW YORK) — Doctors say some hospitals are reaching their breaking points as cases of flu and RSV continue to rise across the United States.
Respiratory viruses have been surging throughout the country, appearing earlier than usual and rapidly increasing every month.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 11,000 RSV infections were diagnosed in September 2022, rising to 40,000 for October.
Meanwhile, for flu, cases, hospitalizations and deaths have doubled for the second week in a row, CDC data shows.
This has led to some hospitals running out of beds, being forced to treat children in emergency rooms and hallways and seeing patients that are much sicker than usual compared to past years.
“It’s really unbelievable the number of patients that we have seen,” Dr. Juan Salazar, physician in chief and infectious diseases specialist at Connecticut Children’s Hospital in Hartford, told ABC News. “The number of kids that are coming in, children under the age of five that we have seen come to our emergency department has been like nothing I’ve ever seen in my 25 years practicing here at Connecticut Children’s and frankly, over my 30 years of practicing infectious diseases.”
“It’s been unprecedented, the strain on the staff and the parents and the children and the nurses has been really, truly unbelievable,” he said.
Some hospitals are completely full
Salazar said his hospital has fully reached capacity and has been that way for the last five to six weeks. The emergency department also has many more patients than it has beds.
“So, our emergency department has 45 beds at any given time,” he said. “This past three, four weeks we’ve had 110 kids in the emergency department. So, it’s almost three times as many beds as we have capacity for.”
Salazar said he has had to call on specialty providers who do not usually treat emergency department patients to help ER staff.
Connecticut Children’s is not the only hospital experiencing these circumstances. Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, is also seeing more patients than it has capacity for.
“Not only are the viruses hitting earlier in the year, they’re kind of coming back with a vengeance that we haven’t seen, because we’ve been so isolated for the prior two years,” Dr. Maxie Brewer, a hospitalist at Cook Children’s, told ABC News. “And so, the biggest issue we’re kind of running into is running out of hospital beds and long wait times and our ERs and urgent care secondary to the volume of patients that are being affected by these viruses.”
According to Brewer, the ER is seeing about 500 patients a day, which is much higher than normal. This is leading to longer wait times and patients waiting longer to be admitted to the hospital.
Patients sicker than ever
Also different this season is the number of older children who have fallen ill with the virus. Brewer said in past seasons, she usually sees infants under 6 months old with RSV, but she is seeing more toddlers affected and those without a history of pulmonary problems or lung problems.
Brewer remembers one patient, a child around 2 or 3 years old who was born healthy and with no history of asthma or lung disease.
“[The child] started getting ill and did not want to drink as much, parents are noticing a little bit increased work of breathing and came into our ER because of it,” she said.
The child was diagnosed with RSV and needed to be placed on high-flow oxygen, which is different from standard oxygen by providing warmed and humidified gas, which allows oxygen to flow at higher rates.
“I’m not used to seeing kids that are older without a history of asthma and this poor child just working so hard to breathe and needing that extra support having to go the ICU, which is just so different than prior years,” Brewer said. “Normally, I’m able to give them a little bit of oxygen and the older kids are just able to pull through, and this year it’s just been hard because seeing kids like that working so hard to breathe.”
Burned out health care staff
This surge putting strain on hospital systems is also contributing to health care burnout.
Nurses who might normally be taking care of four or five patients at a time are suddenly taking care of several more patients.
“We plan for the normal volumes [of patients], even the high volume, but nothing like this,” Salazar said. “And so that puts a lot of strain on the health care personnel that are already tired coming out of COVID.”
Brewer explained health care workers are trying to balance taking care of sick children, tending to parents frustrated by long wait times and their personal lives.
“We are trying our best to kind of be there for every child that needs us,” she said. “But it has led to a lot of stress amongst physicians and nurses, respiratory therapists and everybody working in the hospitals, because we are seeing so many more than we normally do, are working longer hours, we’re kind of working with more sick kids than we normally see.”
Brewer continued, “This is the most patients I’ve ever seen in my career, which leads to a lot of stress. And you want to be there, you want to help. But you also need to realize you’ve got to take time for yourself.”
(NEW YORK) — Seven-year-old Jax Ramirez was born a “typical little boy,” according to his mom — but now, he’s one in 1.6 million.
Due to an extremely rare genetic disease, he dreams of the day he can attend school in person — and with a bone marrow transplant, he may have the chance.
“He’s a cyber student,” his mother, Missy Ramirez, said. “He just hops on [Zoom] every day with a smile. He’s loving. He loves his friends. His biggest wish is that he someday can see his friends in person.”
Jax was diagnosed with IPEX syndrome last year. The symptoms of the autoimmune disease include diarrhea, diabetes and eczema in young patients, according to the National Center for Advancing Translation Sciences.
The only potential treatment for the disease is a bone marrow transplant. More than a year after his diagnosis, Jax is still searching for his life-saving donor.
To help continue to raise awareness of the bone marrow registry, GMA is partnering with Be The Match in our “One Match, Second Chance” series to continue to raise awareness and to help save lives. Learn how to take the first step to sign up to become a donor today.
Missy Ramirez said symptoms became noticeable when her son was about 2 and a half years old, and he started to have fits of “rapid breathing.” Jax was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
“Nobody in my family has Type 1 diabetes. This is not something that I would have ever put on my mom radar,” she said. “It just didn’t sit well with me.”
Missy Ramirez said other things began to “pop up” and that her son seemed to get gravely ill, too easily.
“We would always end up in the hospital,” she said. “It was never just a little tiny cold.”
She said the common hand, foot and mouth disease turned into a hospital stay for Jax. Then, a runny nose from the flu precipitously turned into a weeklong medically induced coma.
“I had been researching people, doctors, specialists to help me find what the answer was because I knew it just couldn’t be bad luck anymore,” Missy Ramirez said.
Jax was eventually diagnosed with IPEX syndrome in October 2021. Missy Ramirez said they quickly discovered that there were no matches for her son on the bone marrow registry.
“The more diverse you are, the worse the outcomes are simply because there’s not enough representation of people of color on the registry,” she said.
“It was that moment I decided that I can’t just sit by idly hoping that somebody will just magically join this registry and save my son,” she added.
Missy Ramirez and a few close friends started The Match for Jax, a foundation to find a match for her son and others like him. Nearly a year later, the group has registered more than 4,000 people in her son’s honor, but they’re still looking for Jax’s match.
“Every family should have a match. Every person of color should have a voice,” she said. “Every person should be represented and every person should have a second chance at life.”
(NEW YORK) — With winter fast approaching, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it’s never too late to get a flu shot and a COVID-19 booster. Now, doctors are sharing tips on how to make your vaccine go the extra mile.
According to several studies, sleeping well after vaccination, getting vaccinated in the morning and not pre-medicating with new over-the-counter medications could help boost immunity.
But the most important thing, doctors say, is to get vaccinated no matter the circumstances because vaccines will still work to dramatically reduce the risk of severe illness. For those who are able, doctors say there are a few tricks that may give an extra small immunity boost after a shot.
Sleep is associated with a stronger immune system. One study showed that sleep after Hepatitis A vaccination doubled the number of immune cells formed in response to the vaccine.
“People with chronic sleep loss have higher levels of inflammation and are relatively more immunosuppressed,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease physician at the University of California San Francisco. “Getting a vaccine regardless of sleep is better than not getting a vaccine at all.”
One 2012 study showed that those who slept less than six hours after receiving a Hepatitis B vaccination were less likely to have the appropriate immune response. A similar study showed that inadequate sleep after an influenza vaccine also resulted in an inadequate immune response. Inadequate sleep before vaccination has its risks. Shorter sleep duration two nights before influenza vaccination has been shown to lead to poorer immune response that lasts months afterward.
Time of day for vaccination also influences immunity; those who got vaccinated in the morning had greater immunity. One study showed that getting COVID-19 vaccines in the morning led to a stronger immune response than those who received afternoon vaccinations.
Humans have a natural internal clock and levels of our immune cells vary in activity throughout the course of the day.
“Get a vaccine when it is most convenient to you. Immune cells circulate around the body 24/7. But if you can prioritize getting it in the morning, you may get a small advantage,” said Chin-Hong.
If you do not take over-the-counter medications regularly, be cautious about taking them before a vaccine. Some people take anti-fever medications like ibuprofen, acetaminophen and aspirin before a shot.
“Both Tylenol and NSAIDs like ibuprofen may prevent inflammation and theoretically reduce the ability of the immune system to respond to a vaccine,” said Chin-Hong.
Some prior studies found that taking these medications before getting a vaccination may reduce immune response.
All things considered, “the most important thing is to get the vaccines,” said Chin-Hong.
Alicia Zellmer, MD, and Joy Liu, MD, are resident physicians in internal medicine and members of the ABC News Medical Unit.
(NEW YORK) — Americans will soon be gathering for Thanksgiving, celebrating the holiday semi-normally for the first time in more than two years.
However, it comes at a time when respiratory viruses are surging across the United States. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cases of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, have risen from 14,824 the week ending Oct. 29 to 16,512 the week ending Nov. 5.
Similarly, the CDC estimates that cases of influenza increased by 1.6 million cases last week, now totaling over 4.4 million this season.
Additionally, although COVID-19 infections have plateaued in recent months, CDC data shows that transmission rates in previous years picked up around late November.
As families gather, they may wonder if they should make sure they test negative beforehand, mask while with their loved ones, invite unvaccinated family members — or even gather at all?
ABC News spoke to public health experts who offered advice on how to have as safe of a holiday celebration as possible.
“We want to keep you safe during this holiday time period, if it’s RSV, if it’s flu, if it’s COVID,” Dr. Rebecca Weintraub, a physician and assistant professor in the department of global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School, told ABC News. “All of the routine viruses are showing their muscle this season. They are ready and prepared, and we need to be just as prepared so that we can gather as much as possible in person with our loved ones.”
Make sure you’re up to date on your vaccines
The experts recommend before gathering being up to date on COVID-19 vaccines and flu shots.
For Americans aged 5 and older, they can receive the bivalent booster, which protects against BA.4 and BA.5, subvariants of the original omicron variant. For those under age 5, only the primary vaccine series is available.
For the flu, the CDC recommends everyone over 6 months old get vaccinated. If a child is aged 8 or younger and has never received a flu vaccine dose better, they should consider getting two doses.
“I think a lot of people are going to be seeing their parents,” Dr. Perry Halkitis, dean of Rutgers School of Public Health, told ABC News. “And people my age have older parents. Older people are more likely to succumb to the ravages of COVID-19. So, getting boosted as an approach to protect your parents seems like a pretty good idea to me.”
Weintraub suggested if anyone is gathering with unvaccinated people to spend time outside, which reduces the risk of transmission.
“If you are concerned that you may be around those that have not completed their vaccination course or have chosen not to be vaccinated or cannot be vaccinated, we would recommend congregating outside, bringing a table outside to have an early dessert, for example, running a family game outside playing football outside,” she said.
Consider getting a rapid test before gathering
Before attending a Thanksgiving gathering, the experts recommend that Americans consider taking a rapid test.
Rapid at-home tests are also known as antigen tests. They look for antigens, or proteins from the coronavirus, which are different than polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests that look for genetic material from the virus.
“Just make sure if you’re going to test, test as close to the event as you possibly can,” Dr. Anne Rimoin, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California Los Angeles Fielding School of Public Health, told ABC News. “That will be helpful in reducing the spread of this virus.”
Weintraub also recommended checking the expiration dates because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration extended the expiration dates for several brands of at-home tests.
Don’t attend dinner if you feel sick
The experts recommend staying home if you have any symptoms including coughing, sore throat, sneezing, runny nose or fever.
This is because COVID, flu and RSV all predominantly spread the same way — by coming into contact with respiratory droplets from the nose and throat of infected people that are expelled when they cough or sneeze.
“It’s better not to give the gift of an infection to someone over a holiday that could really be serious for them, even if it’s not serious for you,” Rimoin said.
Halkitis said he had to follow this advice three weeks ago when he was feeling congested. At first, he thought he was just a little under the weather.
“At some point, some synapse fired in my brain and said, maybe you should actually test yourself and, lo and behold, it was positive for COVID-19,” he said. “I stayed home the whole following week. I didn’t go to work or anything, not because I was feeling horrible. I could have worked perfectly fine, but I took a responsibility not to infect people.”
Halkitis continued, “So, if people are feeling sick, even slightly sick, even if they even if they test positive and have no symptoms, they should stay home.”
Wear a mask indoors
Although the public appetite for mask wearing is low, experts recommend wearing masks in indoor crowded spaces before attending the event.
People can also consider wearing a mask during the holiday if they are near a high-risk individual.
“Masks are great tools,” Rimoin said. “Masks will be able to prevent spread of respiratory pathogens if worn correctly.”
She continued. “I think it’s important that people go back to the basics about how we protect ourselves using some basic public health measures. They work for COVID-19, they work for RSV and they work for influenza, and really any respiratory virus.”
Ventilation and handwashing
Experts recommend making sure that on the day of the event, the room is properly ventilated, and guests practice good handwashing, thoroughly with soap and water.
Ventilation can include opening doors and windows, if the weather isn’t too cold, or buying air filters.
“Open windows, open doors, if you’re in a place that is warm,” Rimoin said. “And if you aren’t, as many people aren’t right now, you can do a lot to improve ventilation. You can get HEPA filters.”
High efficiency particulate air filters can remove at least 99.97% of airborne particles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Halkitis also suggested having hand sanitizer readily available, explaining, “I’d have it so that all the reminders are there for people to actually undertake these health behaviors while they’re in the home with each other.”
(LOS ANGELES) — Los Angeles County is advising residents to wear masks indoors amid an increase in COVID-19 transmission.
On Thursday, the largest county in the United States said it is “strongly recommending” people wear face coverings in indoor public settings but stopped short of requiring them.
Under an updated response plan released this week, the county said it would issue the recommendations if the COVID-19 case rate hit 100 per 100,000 residents, which it did Thursday, up from 86 per 100,000 one week ago.
“Now, it is strongly recommended that all individuals wear a high-quality mask that fits well in the following settings: in public indoor spaces; when using public transit, including buses, ride-shares, taxis and medical transport; correctional and detention facilities; and homeless and emergency shelters,” county Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said during a media briefing.
Masks are still required for those who work in health care facilities, who have been exposed to COVID-19 in the last 10 days and anywhere mandates are in place.
Data from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health shows an average of 1,500 cases per day have been reported in the last week, an increase from the 1,300 per day reported last week. Test positivity has also increased from 5.8% to 6.8%
Davis told reporters during the briefing this is likely an undercount due to people testing positive with at-home rapid tests and not reporting their results to the health department as well as people who are not testing at all.
Additionally, the number of hospitalized patients has risen from 464 as of Nov. 10 to 601 as of Thursday, data shows.
Daily deaths from COVID-19 remain low with an average of about eight reported per day, but Davis said he expects this number will climb because death tolls generally tend to lag cases and hospitalizations, and both metrics are rising.
He urged residents to get vaccinated and boosted ahead of the holiday season as well as to follow guidelines, including frequent handwashing and staying away from those who are sick.
“We are grateful this year to have the tools that allow us to gather with a lot of safety,” Davis said. “It will mean, however, that all of us likely will need to take some commonsense precautions to avoid future disruptions and the spread of illness.”
