ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — As hospitals in other states sound the alarm on rising RSV cases, doctors at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital say they are actually seeing a decrease in cases.
Dr. Juan Dumois said normally, RSV cases don’t start popping up until October.
This year, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital dealt with cases all summer. Dumois said that’s why he believes cases are not spiking right now.
"So many kids have caught it over the last six months and they have immunity, we don’t have any susceptible kids who can suddenly get it now that the weather gets cooler,” he said.
Dumois also said that although we are seeing a decrease in cases in the Tampa Bay region, he knows there are other health care workers struggling to keep up with the increase of cases in areas like up north.
“If they were not seeing RSV cases over the last six months and all summer long like we were, then you have the entire population of children who have no immunity and susceptible to the virus and it suddenly gets introduced and spreads like wildfire,” he said.
Dumois said although they are not seeing RSV cases spiking, they are seeing more and more cases of the flu.
Healthcare officials say when it comes to RSV, the illness is contagious for three to eight days. Whereas if you get the flu, you are contagious for five to seven days.