CLEVELAND — If you're seeing or experiencing a lot of coughing, sneezing or fever, it may not be COVID. Instead, it could be the wave of illnesses hitting our area the last few weeks.
"We're seeing just a multitude of viruses in the last few weeks. So, you know, everything has just been turned upside down since this entire pandemic started and really we're still seeing the effects, typically in pediatrics and in medicine in general, especially when it comes to viral respiratory infections," said Claudia Hoyen, Director of Infection at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital.
These new illnesses come just a few months past our last uptick in COVID cases around Northeast Ohio. One virus local hospitals are seeing a lot of lately, is parainfluenza.
"If you have a small upper airway and you get swelling in that small upper airway, you know, it then narrows and then you will have noisy breathing," Dr. Hoyen said.
Parainfluenza isn't the only thing local doctors are seeing.
"We've got rhino viruses, which cause colds, we've got adenovirus, which can give you a fever, some conjunctivitis, a sore throat maybe vomiting and diarrhea. And then we also have RSV," Hoyen told us.
However, Hoyen says she's not surprised to see the reemergence of the viruses because simply put: People are just living their lives again.
"We are gonna keep getting viruses. This is what happened to us before COVID," Hoyen said.
And, besides masking or staying home, there's really not a whole lot you can do to prevent getting sick. However, as yet another strain of COVID trickles in (Omicron BA.5), your best bet is to play is safe.
"I think until we're kind of a little more out of this, probably the best thing for people to do if they can, is to test," Hoyen said.
Editor's Note: The below video is from March 15, 2022.
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