卫生官员警告说，全国各地存在流感、呼吸道合胞病毒和新冠肺炎病毒的“三重威胁”，医院继续看到儿科呼吸道合胞病毒病例激增。
美国医务总监Vivek Murthy博士加入了“GMA3 ”,讨论人们如何才能最好地为冬季做好准备，这个流感季节将会是什么样子，以及联邦政府如何与全国各地的医院和卫生保健工作者合作。
GMA3:博士，和往常一样，很高兴你能和我们在一起。我知道你必须能够同时走路和嚼口香糖，但我们谈论的是流感、呼吸道合胞病毒和COVID。但是，你能给我们一个想法吗，根据我们在医院看到的情况，哪一个是你最关心的问题?
默西:嗯，再次和你们在一起真是太好了。听着，我认为我们必须认识到这三者。COVID、RSV和流感都是威胁……好消息是，面对这些病毒，我们并非无能为力。我们可以做一些事情来帮助防止我们的孩子和成人得到这些。
这对我来说也很私人，我的两个小孩一个4岁，一个6岁。他们今年冬天都感染了各种病毒。几周前，我女儿生病了，我自己和她在急诊室。所以我知道那些害怕和担心的父母的感受。
嗯，对于COVID和流感，好消息是我们有疫苗可用，这些疫苗最重要的作用是挽救你的生命，让你远离医院。从这个角度来看，他们做得很好。
因此，我敦促家长请让你的孩子和你自己接种COVID和流感疫苗。你可以顺便同时这么做。对于RSV来说，事实证明这种病毒的传播方式与其他病毒相似。
采取一些措施，比如如果你生病了就呆在家里，避免接触那些生病的人，确保你经常洗手。这些都可以帮助我们减少病毒的传播。
让我们牢记这一点，因为它比以往任何时候都更重要，尤其是在医院，尤其是儿童医院人满为患的时候，我们采取这些措施是因为它们是我们照顾孩子的一种方式，也是减轻卫生保健工作者压力的一种方式。
Vivek Murthy, US Surgeon General, speaks during The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Texas, Sept. 24, 2022.
乔丹·冯德哈尔/彭博
GMA 3:mur thy博士，我希望你不介意我们问一下，尽管你提到了你的孩子，那些小的还好吗?
默西:嗯，非常感谢你的关心。是的，谢天谢地，我们很幸运能够得到很好的照顾我的女儿。他们的医生和护士对她照顾得很好，她在医院住了大半天，但还是能回家。她现在好多了。谢谢你。
GMA 3:Vivek，我是Jen。很高兴再次与你交谈。我想在呼吸道合胞病毒上停留一会儿，因为正如你们所知，在这个国家的某些地区，有些医院的儿科床位已经达到或接近100%的容量，尽管老年人也受到呼吸道合胞病毒的影响。在医院层面采取了哪些具体措施来帮助他们获得他们需要的资源?
MURTHY:是的，我很高兴你提出这个问题，因为我认为许多人可能没有意识到我们的医院系统现在面临的压力。这种菌株不仅仅是由RSV引起的，而是在过去的两年半中出现的。
我们的护士、医生、药剂师、卫生保健工作者一直在应对一波又一波的COVID，他们现在承受着巨大的压力。我们已经认识到这一点，并与卫生保健系统、医疗协会以及州和地方司法机构直接密切合作。
我们正在做几件事。首先，当他们需要人员、呼吸机和设备时，我们会提供直接支持。我们还与他们密切合作，进行协调，以便在给定的地区或州内，病床可以得到最有效的利用，这样即使一家医院没有病床，他们也可以与他们所在地区可能有空间的其他机构合作。
我们将与他们保持紧密合作，根据需要提供额外的培训和支持。所以我们都在一起。
我们将继续与这些机构密切合作，确保他们拥有所需的资源。但请记住，如果你想帮助医院系统，你可以做的最重要的事情之一是接种COVID和流感疫苗，并获得Paxlovid，这是一种治疗新冠肺炎的药物，如果你是高危人群。这些是让人们远离医院的一些最好的方法，我们的医院需要他们现在能得到的所有支持。
GMA 3:mur thy博士，我现在想谈谈流感。根据疾病预防控制中心的数据，美国三分之二的州报告了高水平或非常高水平的流感样活动。谈谈为什么我们这么早就看到这么高的数字，以及你们对冬季即将到来的担忧。
默西:嗯。所以这是个好问题。过去几年流感和呼吸道合胞病毒非常罕见。你知道，在COVID的早期，人们被隔离，采取预防措施，包括戴口罩，与正常年份相比，我们实际上看到流感和RSV的发病率非常低。
现在随着我们回归正常，正如你们所知，越来越多的人开始回到他们的日常生活中。我们看到这些病毒卷土重来，在某个时候它们会达到平衡。
但是今年，我们已经看到呼吸道合胞病毒和流感比正常情况来得更早。RSV的好消息是，我们在这个国家的一些地方开始看到上升速度的放缓。这可能预示着高峰即将到来。我们不知道确切的时间，但在全国范围内，这些都是一些有希望的迹象。
但底线是，你知道，我们不能放松警惕。我们必须采取预防措施来防止这些病毒的传播，比如洗手，在拥挤的室内空间戴口罩，以及确保生病时呆在家里。当然，对于COVID和流感，请尽快接种疫苗。冬天来了。案件高发，我们希望人们得到保护。
GMA3:你现在的预测是什么?鉴于你现在看到的情况，今年冬天可能会有一次COVID激增?
MURTHY:嗯，我认为我们必须做好准备，我们将看到在这个国家的一些地区，COVID病例的增加。我们已经看到病例开始上升。但我确实认为，我们现在的处境将会比前两个冬天遭遇风暴潮时更好。
我认为我们会处于更好的境地的原因是，我们有更多的人得到了保护，无论是接种疫苗还是之前的感染。我们也有像Paxlovid这样的药物来治疗像老年人这样的高危人群。
所以底线是，我确实认为我们会处于一个更好的位置，但是我们需要人们使用这些工具。值得强调的一点是，如果人们接种了最新的疫苗，如果他们已经接种了特别是最新的新冠肺炎加强疫苗……在两个月或两个月后接种了最后一针，你现在有资格接种。
如果你更新了你的疫苗，如果你使用了Paxlovid，你知道，如果你实际上是一个高风险群体并且生病了，你死于COVID的几率非常非常低。所以现在，我们每天有300到400人被新冠肺炎夺去生命。
如果你及时接种疫苗，如果你服用像帕昔洛韦这样的药物，如果你真的生病了，我们希望人们知道这一点，这样他们就可以安全，那么大多数死亡实际上是可以预防的。
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy advises on flu, RSV and COVID-19
Health officials are warning of a "triple threat" of flu, RSV and COVID-19 across the country and hospitals are continuing to see a surge in pediatric RSV cases.
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy joined "GMA3" to discuss how people can best prepare themselves for the winter months, what this flu season will look like, and how the federal government is working with hospitals and health care workers across the country.
GMA3: Doctor, good to have you with us, as always. I know you have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, but we're talking about flu, RSV and COVID. Can you give us an idea, though, which one of these is kind of your leading concern, given what we're seeing in hospitals?
MURTHY: Well, it's so good to be with all of you again. Look, I think we have to be cognizant that all three; COVID, RSV, and the flu are threats… The good news is that we are not powerless in the face of these viruses. There is something we can do to help prevent our kids and adults from getting these.
And this is very personal for me too, my two small kids who are 4 and 6. They've both been sick this winter with various viruses. I was in the emergency room myself with my daughter, who was ill a couple of weeks ago. So I know how this feels for parents who are scared and worried out there.
Well, with COVID and the flu, the good news is we have vaccines available and the most important job of these vaccines is to save your life and keep you out of the hospital. And by that measure, they are working well.
So I would urge parents to please get your children and get yourself vaccinated for COVID and the flu. You can do that at the same time by the way. For RSV, it turns out that that virus spreads similar to other viruses.
And taking measures like staying home if you're sick, avoiding contact with those who are sick, making sure you're washing your hands regularly. These can all help us with reducing the spread of the virus.
Let's keep this in mind because it's more important than ever, especially as hospitals are filling up, children's hospitals in particular, that we take these measures because they're one way that we can take care of our kids, but also relieve the strain on health care workers.
GMA3: Dr. Murthy, I hope you don't mind us asking, though, as you mentioned your kids, are the little ones okay?
MURTHY: Well, thank you so much for asking. Yes, thankfully, we were blessed to be able to get good care for my daughter. Their doctors and nurses took great care of her and she was in the hospital for about the better part of a day, but was able to come home. And she's much better now. Thank you.
GMA3: And Vivek, it's Jen. Nice to talk to you again. I want to stay on RSV for a second because as you know, there are some hospitals in certain parts of the country that are at or approaching 100% capacity for their pediatric beds, even though elderly people are also affected by RSV. What in particular is being done at the hospital level to help them with resources that they need?
MURTHY: Yeah, I'm glad you raised this because I think many people may not realize this strain on our hospital systems right now. And this is a strain not just due to RSV, but for the last two and a half years.
Our nurses, doctors, pharmacists, health care workers have been dealing with waves of COVID, and they are under great strain now. We have been cognizant of this and working very closely with health care systems, with the medical associations and with states and local jurisdictions directly.
We're doing several things. Number one, we're offering them direct support when they need it in terms of personnel, ventilators, equipment. We are also working closely with them to coordinate so that across a given region or a state, beds can be utilized and at the most efficient, so that even if one hospital doesn't have beds, they can work with other institutions that may have space, you know, in their region.
And we're staying closely aligned with them to provide additional trainings and support as needed. So we're all in this together.
We're going to stay working closely with these institutions to make sure they have the resources they need. But keep in mind that if you want to help the hospital systems one of the most important things you can do is to get vaccinated for COVID and flu, to reach for Paxlovid, which is a medication to treat COVID-19 if you're in a high risk group. These are some of the best ways to keep people out of the hospital, and our hospitals need all the support that they can get right now.
GMA3: Dr. Murthy, I want to talk about influenza now. According to the CDC, two thirds of states here in this country are reporting high or very high levels of influenza-like activity. Talk about why we're seeing these high numbers so early and what your concerns are heading into the winter months.
MURTHY: Hmm. So it's a good question. The last couple of years have been very unusual for flu and RSV. You know, during the early years of COVID, when people were isolated, taking precautions, including wearing masks, we actually saw very low rates of flu and RSV compared to normal years.
And now as we come back to normal and as you know, more and more people are getting back to their day to day lives. We're seeing these viruses come back and at some point they will equilibrate.
But this year, we have seen RSV and flu come earlier than normal. The good news with RSV is we're in some parts of the country is starting to see a slowing, if you will, of the rate of rise. And that might indicate that a peak may be coming soon. We don't know exactly when that will be, but those are some promising signs across the country.
But the bottom line is, you know, we can't let up our guard. We have to take the precautions that we need to prevent the spread of these viruses, like washing our hands, wearing masks in crowded indoor spaces, and like making sure that we're staying home if we're sick. And of course, again, with COVID and flu, please get vaccinated as soon as you can. Winter is here. Cases are high and we want people to be protected.
GMA3: What's your prediction right now? A potential COVID surge this winter, given what you're seeing right now?
MURTHY: Well, I think we have to be prepared for the fact that we will see a rise in COVID cases in some parts of the country. We're already seeing cases start to go up. But I do think that we will be in a better place than we were in the last two winters when we had surges.
And the reason I think we'll be in a better place is that we have more people who have protection, either from vaccinations or from prior infection. We also have medications like Paxlovid to treat those who are in high risk groups like the elderly.
So the bottom line is, I do think we'll be in a better position, but we need people to use these tools. And one thing that's worth underscoring is if people are up to date with their vaccines, if they've gotten especially the updated COVID-19 booster vaccine… gotten your last shot two months or out, you're now eligible to get.
If you updated your vaccines and if you reach for Paxlovid, you know, if you are in fact, in a high risk group and get sick, your chances of dying from COVID are really, really low. And so right now, we're losing between 300 to 400 people a day to COVID-19.
The most– and most of those deaths are actually preventable if you're up to date with your vaccines, if you reach for medications like Paxlovid, if you do get sick and we want people to know about that so they can be safe.
