Paterson, N.J. trying to get out ahead of nasty tripledemic
PATERSON, N.J. -- With the holidays behind us, the so-called "tripledemic" is showing no sign of letting up.
More and more kids and adults are coming down with COVID, the flu and RSV, and patients are flooding into emergency rooms and pharmacies.
At Paramus Pharmacy, a steady stream of customers have been on the hunt for cold meds and COVID tests.
"We have more flu than we actually have COVID. Head congestion, things of that nature," one customer said.
The recent wave of infections and a new COVID variant led pharmacist Manish Pujara to reinstate a mask mandate in the pharmacy. It's a pandemic-era relic he hoped was behind us.
"People are confused. They don't know what they have. They have flu, or COVID," Pujara said.
READ MORE: Doctors: New Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 responsible for 75% of new COVID cases in Northeast
The trio of nasty viruses have been especially hard on kids.
"These three have managed to coalesce into one big storm of infection," said Dr. David Goldberg, chief of the pediatric infectious disease service at St. Joseph's Health in Paterson.
Like most emergency rooms, his is seeing more kids coming in now than they have in several years.
"Thankfully, most of them have upper respiratory infections that can be treated at home or they can be treated symptomatically. But we are seeing, as other hospitals are, an increase in patients being admitted because of their respiratory illness," Goldberg said.
READ MORE: Mask mandate returns for students in Paterson, New Jersey
The city of Paterson is also trying to get ahead of the surge in cases. Mayor Andre Sayegh and Department of Health unveiled a new mobile health unit that will be used to go out into underserved communities for COVID and flu shots and testing.
Paterson spent just more than $400,000 on the truck, but the mayor said it's worth it. As he put it, he is doubling down on the tripledemic.
"We have to continue to adapt to this new normal, or the now-normal, and that's why we're encouraged to have this mobile unit," Sayegh said.
At St. Joseph's Health, doctors say, finally, cases of flu and RSV are starting to dip, but COVID cases are on the rise. this comes as the Food and Drug Administration is reviewing an application for an antibody that could help prevent RSV in infants. If approved, it could be available to infants and toddlers later this year.