Introduction
As the number of cases of respiratory illnesses such as RSV, COVID, and the flu rise, virus experts are issuing new guidance on how to protect yourself and your family. Eating the right foods can help boost your immune system and reduce your risk of getting sick. In this article, we’ll discuss the foods you should eat and the foods you should avoid to stay healthy during this time.
Virus Experts Issue New Guidance as RSV, COVID, and Flu Cases Rise
As the number of cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), coronavirus (COVID-19), and influenza (flu) continue to rise, virus experts are issuing new guidance to help protect people from getting sick. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people take steps to reduce their risk of getting sick, such as washing their hands often, avoiding close contact with people who are sick, and staying home when they are sick.
In addition to these measures, the CDC also recommends that people eat certain foods to help boost their immune system and reduce their risk of getting sick. Here are some of the foods that experts recommend eating to help protect against RSV, COVID-19, and the flu:
- Fruits and vegetables: Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables can help boost your immune system and reduce your risk of getting sick. Fruits and vegetables are also high in vitamins and minerals that can help keep your body healthy.
- Whole grains: Whole grains are a great source of fiber, which can help keep your digestive system healthy and reduce your risk of getting sick. Whole grains are also high in vitamins and minerals that can help boost your immune system.
- Lean proteins: Lean proteins, such as fish, chicken, and beans, are a great source of protein and can help keep your body strong and healthy. Eating lean proteins can also help reduce your risk of getting sick.
- Healthy fats: Healthy fats, such as olive oil, avocados, and nuts, can help keep your body healthy and reduce your risk of getting sick. Healthy fats are also high in vitamins and minerals that can help boost your immune system.
In addition to eating these foods, experts also recommend avoiding certain foods that can weaken your immune system and increase your risk of getting sick. Here are some of the foods that experts recommend avoiding to help protect against RSV, COVID-19, and the flu:
- Processed foods: Processed foods, such as chips, cookies, and candy, are high in sugar and unhealthy fats, which can weaken your immune system and increase your risk of getting sick.
- Refined carbohydrates: Refined carbohydrates, such as white bread and white rice, are low in fiber and can weaken your immune system and increase your risk of getting sick.
- Sugary drinks: Sugary drinks, such as soda and juice, are high in sugar and can weaken your immune system and increase your risk of getting sick.
- Alcohol: Alcohol can weaken your immune system and increase your risk of getting sick.
By following these guidelines and eating the right foods, you can help protect yourself from getting sick with RSV, COVID-19, and the flu. Remember to wash your hands often, avoid close contact with people who are sick, and stay home when you are sick.
We’re in the middle of a possible “tripledemic,” as RSV, the flu and COVID cases are rising sharply in America. “COVID-19 may have lost its daily news headline status, but the disease rages on with 2700 weekly deaths in the U.S. and millions of Americans chronically disabled from long-COVID, 4 million of which are being kept from work. This winter time, a terrible year for RSV as well as a potentially worse flu season could add insult to injury especially when one considers the fact that COVID-19 leaves some people with an impaired immune system similar to what HIV does to cause AIDS,” says News Direct. How can you stay safe? Virus experts are issuing new guidance. Read on for that, and to discover the symptoms for each.
A mask can help mitigate your exposure to infectious diseases. Health authorities are encouraging mask wearing in areas where infections are spreading. “Ten days of mask wearing as many return to work, in school, can slow transmission, minimize disruptions to work and learning,” said L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, for example. “Protect those most vulnerable and help make sure hospitals do not become overwhelmed.”
Added Dr. Anthony Fauci, speaking to Fox: “It really depends on the local situation. And you really can’t make a broad generalization about that. You have to leave it up to the discretion of the local health authorities and you know, LA is a big city. They have very good health authorities. I know that all they have good judgment and we’ll leave it up to them when they’re there on the ground evaluating the situation. I mean, obviously you would like people to use good judgment to protect themselves and their family in that community without necessarily having to mandate anything because you know, there is a fatigue about being mandated. People don’t like to be told what to do. Yeah. But you really want to very strongly encourage people that when you’re having a rather strong uptick in infections, which is followed by an uptick in hospitalizations, you want to make sure you do something to mitigate against that. And I think that’s what’s going on in LA.”
“I’m very concerned about it,” Dr. Fauci said about COVID. “Because even though we’re doing much better now than we did a year ago, where we were having hundreds of 1000s, up to 800,000 infections a day and anywhere between 3 and 4,000 deaths per day, we’re much lower than that right now. But it isn’t over. We’re getting into the winter months, the holiday season, people will be congregating indoors. We have an updated booster vaccine that’s available that can really go a long way to protecting you, certainly from severe disease, if not from infection. And unfortunately, there’s not a very vigorous uptake of that vaccine. We’re doing much, much lower from a percentage point that we shouldn’t be doing. In some respects, that may be understandable because people want to be done with COVID. We’ve all been exhausted over the last three years. But there still is a lot to do to protect yourself and your family and ultimately your community. And that’s the reason why as we’re entering into the winter, we’re really putting a full court press on to get people to get that updated bluster vaccine, already gotten it.”
The signs of RSV include:
Severe cough
Fever
Wheezing
Difficulty breathing
Rapid breathing
Blue(ish) skin due to lack of oxygen
“The signs and symptoms of severe RSV infection in infants may include short, shallow and rapid breathing, a struggle to breathe, coughing, poor feeding behavior, tiredness, and irritability,” says Pediatric Infection Specialist Stephanie Stovall, M.D. “Most children and adults usually get better in one-two weeks after onset,” Dr. Stovall says. “Severe or life-threatening RSV infection in premature infants or anyone with chronic heart or lung problems may require hospitalization.”
“At first, the flu may seem like a common cold with a runny nose, sneezing and sore throat. Colds usually develop slowly. But the flu tends to come on suddenly. And while a cold can be miserable, you usually feel much worse with the flu,” says the Mayo Clinic. “Common symptoms of the flu include:
Fever
Aching muscles
Chills and sweats
Headache
Dry, persistent cough
Shortness of breath
Tiredness and weakness
Runny or stuffy nose
Sore throat
Eye pain
Vomiting and diarrhea, but this is more common in children than adults.”
A new variant is spreading in America. “Called XBB, it accounted for 3.6% of total cases in the United States during the last week of 2022, the CDC says. Its cousin, XBB.1.5, was responsible for 40.5%. Both are subvariants of Omicron and are especially dominant in the Northeast, where three of four cases are linked to XBB.1.5. The country continues to record about 400 deaths a day,” says Web MD.
Symptoms of COVID include, says the CDC:
ossible symptoms include:
Fever or chills
Cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Muscle or body aches
Headache
New loss of taste or smell
Sore throat
Congestion or runny nose
Nausea or vomiting
Diarrhea
Alek Korab