Abdul El-Sayed, America Dissected: "If you talk to any pediatrician, there’s one big thing on their mind, RSV. Short for respiratory syncytial virus, RSV is a common virus that can cause serious illness and even death in young children. And that’s exactly what it’s doing right now. Children’s hospitals are packed with infants and toddlers with RSV. As we discussed a few weeks back, the spike in RSV is a logical consequence of the fact, this is the first year in three there aren’t any major COVID restrictions in place. Less masking, less social distancing and more time together indoors in groups, big and small means more spreading of viruses that our COVID restrictions had been holding at bay. But immunity is like anything else in our bodies. Use it or lose it. Then the fact that children were so much less likely to be exposed to RSV because of the COVID restrictions means they missed a few well, we’ll call them software updates. The virus kept evolving with school back in full swing and weather starting to get colder. All of this is leading to a perfect storm with America’s kids at the center. But it’s not just RSV. "
