‘Tripledemic’ looming, health officials urge public to get flu shot

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.-If you haven’t gotten your flu shot yet, you might want to think about doing so. 

“This is coming now, this is real, it’s bad. So it’s something we need to act on sooner rather than later,” said Norton Children’s Hospital Pediatric Infectious Diseases Physician Dr. Daniel Blatt. 

Health officials are seeing the flu season start earlier than ever. This is the first fall in three years that many people aren’t taking the precautions that were mandated during the pandemic. 

“When people take off their masks, when they get back together inside, that is definitely going to increase the spread of flu,” said Dr. Blatt. 

There’s also a concern of a tripledemic- the flu, Covid, and RSV. 

“The combination of waves of Covid, and RSV and influenza is a really scary thought. All three of those viruses can make people really sick and in a health system that doesn’t like to be stressed out too much it’s a real problem,” said Dr. Blatt. 

25 school districts in the state of Kentucky have announced closures or non-traditional instruction days this week. 

In Barren County, staff say that they are so far, so good. They are seeing 92-96% attendance 

“We have to fall below 90% before Mr. Matthews our superintendent would go to the board to make a decision about either a school closure or taking NTI days,” said Barren Co. Schools District Communications Officer Heather Gardner. 

If your child is showing symptoms like a fever, body aches, or difficulty breathing, you should keep them home.”

“When parents will keep their kids at home when they’re symptomatic, that makes such a big difference. And our parents have done a great job of that. I think people are more sensitive now that we’ve gone through the Covid pandemic,” said Dr. Blatt.