‘Tripledemic’ of illnesses hit McHenry County hospitals

Hospitals across McHenry County are the busiest they’ve been in nearly two years due to what is being called a “tripledemic,” consisting of three respiratory illnesses spiking at one time, officials said.

Despite this, hospital administrators across the county said they are confident in their ability to keep up with demand thanks to new strategies pulled from the COVID-19 pandemic during the past few years.

“It’s a perfect storm right now,” said Catie Schmit, chief nursing executive at Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital. “All these things combined have made our emergency departments extremely busy, and our in-patient capacity, we’re full or over.”

The “tripledemic” comes from a spike in flu, RSV and COVID-19 cases across the area. While these are generally seen as seasonal illnesses, and winter is when they are most severe, it’s still unusual in some ways to see all three happen at once, said Jeremy Silver, medical director for Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital.

“In my opinion, the nature of the viruses is dominance so the idea of a tripledemic as an onslaught of all three viruses at once is not reality. I think what’s more realistic, which is what we’ve seen, is this scenario: COVID surges, then dips. Then the RSV epidemic, and that kind of wanes, and then flu comes to the foreground.”

Part of the reason for the ongoing spike is a few new trends developing. For starters, RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, typically sees its highest numbers in February, said Gary Reschak, a doctor of pediatrics at Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital.

While it’s not known why cases are rising a couple months earlier than normal, one reason posited is tied to lockdowns in recent years, which helped people avoid infections, Reschak said. But with things returning in many ways to normal, many were going out and being exposed again.

“I don’t think anyone has a definitive answer,” Reschak said.

It’s also not known what RSV might look like in the coming months, Reschak said. While it’s hard to say what will happen, there could be another peak in February.

As for influenza, or the flu, it was expected this was going to be a rough year as the southern hemisphere saw a rough flu season earlier this year, Reschak said. What happens there typically mirrors the northern hemisphere.

Nothing about this specific strain, though, makes it worse compared to previous years. Illinois saw “high” influenza rates for the week ending Dec. 17, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

Severity tied to the flu might stick around for a few more weeks at least, Reschak said. The flu normally sees its last burst in the weeks after people finish up their holiday traveling, and then recede.

In what might come as some relief to people, COVID-19 is showing signs of settling into a similar pattern to more commonly known illnesses, Reschak said. Thanks to herd immunity and vaccines, signs are pointing to a more optimistic future for COVID-19.

As of Friday, 33 counties across Illinois reported “high” rates of COVID-19 spread. Those included DeKalb, Lee, DuPage, Ogle, Kendall and Winnebago counties in northern Illinois, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Whiteside, Kankakee, Lake, McHenry, Grundy, Will and Kane counties reported medium spread while La Salle County was among the 14 counties with low spread.

In the same timeframe, Illinois had 1,814 COVID-19 patients in the hospital, the most since February.

“Compared to previous years, it’s not as significant,” Reschak said. “I think a lot has to do with vaccines, but we’ve had a lot of people have COVID. … In the coming years, it seems it will be like when we talk about the flu. At least that’s my prediction.”

While COVID-19 is settling down, vaccination rates and masking are down, which have contributed to some of the spikes being seen right now, said Irfan Hafiz, chief medical officer at Northwestern Medicine for Huntley, McHenry and Woodstock hospitals.

“We’ve taken our foot off that,” Hafiz said.

The previous two years dealing with COVID-19 brought an unprecedented number of hospital visits, admissions and deaths, which easily outstripped anything brought on by the flu, Hafiz said.

Throughout that time, hospitals learned a lot about preparedness and disaster planning, Hafiz said. The period taught them more about managing beds, air flow, cohorting patients, planning in terms of staffing and elective procedures.

With holiday travel continuing, Schmit said she doesn’t think the peak has come. She expects higher volumes of people coming in with these three illnesses in the next few weeks.

The structure the hospitals use allows them to pivot quickly to changing needs, Schmit said. The goal is to help the sickest people and keep patients moving through the system. She also recognized the facilities team for their work in helping the hospital function with its basic needs.

“Teamwork is the secret sauce,” Schmit said. “It’s the magic that helps health care be successful.”

Overall, the hospitals are busier than average from what Reschak is seeing, he said. But it hasn’t been an extraordinary amount.

“We’re definitely pretty busy,” Reschak said. “But that’s pretty normal for this time of year.”

Hafiz agreed, saying sheer numbers show they are busy, but it’s something they are managing. For example, while elective procedures were shut down almost completely for much of the pandemic, they are still going on now despite current levels.

“It’s kind of become the new norm,” Hafiz said. “We’re adapting to that.”

DeKalb Daily Chronicle editor Kelsey Rettke contributed to this story.