U.S. could face "tripledemic" amid exodus of health care workers
CBSN
The U.S. could very well face what some doctors have dubbed a "tripledemic" this winter, with cases of COVID-19, the flu and a virus called respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) surging at the same time.
The simultaneous increase in cases of three distinct viruses comes as more professionals are leaving the health care field for work that either pays better or is less physically and emotionally draining, which could further threaten the nation's strained health care system.
"I'm concerned that hospitals, health care providers are going to be overwhelmed," said CBS News medical contributor and Kaiser Health News editor-at-large Dr. Celine Gounder. "We're looking at very high rates of both flu and RSV, so probably something around like 35,000 hospitalizations per week just from those two conditions."