This is not how you want to go viral. The U.S. is currently going through surges of not one, not two, not three but four different viruses. That’s prompted folks to nickname the current situation a “quad-demic,” which may be a “four”-midable situation for those seeking timely healthcare in this country. So, you may want be four-warned and do what you can protect yourself.
What Is The Quad-demic
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Respiratory Virus Activity Levels website shows that COVID-19, influenza A and respiratory syncytial virus have all been on the upswing since November 2024. For the week ending on January 18, 25.0% of reported influenza tests, 8.8% of reported RSV tests and 6.2% of reported COVID-19 tests came back positive. Meanwhile, here’s the poop on norovirus: according to the CDC, for the week ending January 4, 2025, 27.91% of tests for this gastrointestinal virus came back positive, reportedly the highest that this percentage has been over the past five years.
Now, it’s not super surprising that the activity of all four viruses have increased during the Winter months as that tends to happen every year. After all, the cold and dry air may make facilitate the transmission of respiratory viruses and keep people cooped up indoors close to one another, which makes it easier to pass all sorts of stuff to each other. Plus, norovirus is non-affectionately known as the “Winter Vomiting Virus” for a reason.
This Winter, the levels of the three respiratory viruses may have started increasing a little later than usual. That could have compressed all of the surges in to the January timeframe. Although it remains a bit hard to tell what exactly is happening with each virus when since the U.S. government never really put in a comprehensive virus surveillance system that’s significantly better than what was in place in 2020. As you recall, in 2020, the U.S. was kind of caught with it’s proverbial pants down when the COVID-19 pandemic started and had to rely on a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University to start a website to keep track of COVID-19.
What’s more striking are the combined activity levels of the four viruses. Remember none of these four viruses are nothingburger viruses. All four can cause symptoms bad enough to send you to the emergency room. For the week ending January 18, 5.2% of all emergency room visits were due to the flu, 0.9% because of COVID-19 and 0.6% because of RSV. Bad cases of COVID-19, the flu or RSV can end up killing you. There’s also the longstanding problem of possibly getting long COVID after a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. And most people who have had a norovirus infection will tell you that it’s not your run of the mill gastrointestinal infection. In fact, the runs and the vomiting that it can cause can be like nothing else you’ve experienced, leading to major dehydration that could require medical attention.
The Quad-demic Is Further Clogging Up The Healthcare System
Thus, the quad-demic is likely putting a toll on the already heavily-constrained healthcare system. Even when there are no infectious disease epidemics going on, it’s probably not common for people to say, “Looking forward to going to the ER where I’ll be seen immediately and not have to wait at all.” When you think of ERs throughout the country, the words “ultimate efficiency” and “well-staffed” don’t often come to mind. Throw in several viral epidemics together and it’s likely that wait times for those seeking care at clinics, hospitals and emergency rooms have gotten even longer.
Therefore, if you do require any type of healthcare service, it’s especially important now to plan ahead. Think about what setting would be most appropriate for your condition. If you have a non-urgent matter, consider contacting your regular doctor during business hours for guidance. That may spare you a lot of unnecessary wait time in a more urgent setting such as urgent care or the ER. If you do have a health problem that requires urgent attention, make that clearly known to the healthcare professionals at the clinic, hospital or ER as soon as you get there. You don’t want to end up being lost in the viral shuffle.
How To Protect Yourself Against The Quad-demic
It’s also a good idea to take proper precautions to keep yourself from being infected. This should apply everywhere but especially in waiting rooms, other healthcare settings and anywhere that may be prime areas for viral transmission. Don’t listen to those politicians and such who have tried to politicize the heck out of proven infectious disease control measures. For example, N95 respirators are designed to block small particles like viruses. Wearing such face masks can effectively cut down respiratory virus transmission as long as the masks fit and are worn properly.
Another useful measure is maintaining good ventilation with clean air. Remember back in 2020 when there was a push to install more air purifiers in indoor locations to cut down on SARS-CoV-2 transmission? Well, our society often has the memory of a goldfish when it comes to such things.
Then there’s the whole handwashing thing. If someone says they haven’t washed his or her hands in, oh, say like 10 years, you may want to stay far away from that person. Washing your hands thoroughly and frequently can cut down on not only viral infections but also bacterial and other microbial infections, as I have written previously for Forbes.
You also want to frequently disinfect high-touch surfaces like that life-sized Jason Momoa statue that you keep in your closet. The challenge is that norovirus can be resistant to many standard household cleaners and may require bleach to get deactivated.
Finally, getting vaccinated can protect you further, at least against getting worse outcomes. If you are six months or older, you can get the flu and COVID-19 vaccines. The CDC recommends the RSV vaccine for pregnant women, infants, children who at higher risk, adults who 75 of age and older and adults in the 60 to 74 year age range who have a higher risk of severe RSV disease. There is currently no norovirus vaccine on the market. But that may change in the near future.
Oh, and one more thing. At this point, don’t rely on the federal government to tell you when an infectious disease may be surging. As mentioned before, the past five years have shown major deficiencies in the existing infectious disease surveillance systems in the U.S. Throw on top of that the current pause on communication from federal health agencies being enforced by President Donald Trump’s new administration that took office on January 20, 2025. It’s not clear how current the CDC infectious disease data will be until there is more clarity on what will happen to CDC. It’s not even clear what the the federal government will do to prevent and deal with infectious disease outbreaks at this moment like the current quad-demic and anything that may emerge in the near future. Consider yourself four-warned.
