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Feeling the flu: Doctors see simultaneous uptick in flu and RSV cases

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Local emergency rooms are seeing a rise in flu and respiratory syncytial virus cases at the same time, an uncommon trend.

Respiratory syncytial virus, better known as RSV, tends to peak when the flu season starts to trend down.

That’s not the case this year — the viruses are peaking simultaneously.

Jon Gonella, a physician assistant at MedStar Health, said no one was caught off guard.

“We’re not surprised to see them,” said Gonella. “We fully expect to see them.”

To avoid that flu fever or RSV cough, Gonella said it’s best to go back to the basics.

“Good hand hygiene,” he said. “I know we talk about it a lot. But it really does make a difference.”

The CDC also recommends getting vaccinated and staying home when you feel sick.

While the flu and RSV see an upward tick in cases, there’s one respiratory illness that hasn’t shown up as much this year.

“Not a lot of COVID,” Gonella said.

The Centers for Disease Control ranked COVID-19 as “very low” nationwide and “growing” in the D.C. area.

States seek to lower drug prices by targeting the companies that manage them for health plans

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — As consumers worry about medication costs, states are trying to lower drug prices by reining in big companies that oversee prescription coverage for health insurers. Some of those companies, called pharmacy benefit managers, also own pharmacies, and one of them, CVS, has spent millions of dollars fighting the regulations. Affordability is a key issue ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Legislators in at least a dozen states passed laws this year to limit compensation to the companies, set minimum payments from the companies to pharmacists and require the companies to disclose more information to their clients, states and the public. A Tennessee law will bar pharmacy benefit managers from operating retail pharmacies as of July 1, 2028, though CVS Health Corp. has filed a federal lawsuit to avoid having to close its 136 pharmacies there.
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