Health experts: Time to roll up your sleeves as flu, COVID-19 and RSV season looms

Along with unearthing puffy jackets, wrangling leaves and procuring pumpkins, add vaccinations to your fall list as the respiratory virus season looms, experts recommend.

Here’s the latest on the outlook for flu, COVID-19 and RSV from two public health veterans.

Compared to 2025-2026, “we are expecting the overall number of hospitalizations for all three viruses to be the same this season,” Cook County Department of Public Health Chief Operating Officer Dr. Kiran Joshi said Friday.

“The good news is that hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 have been declining, and I want to highlight that as a public health success.” Still, “we do need to keep our guard up because these are just projections and viruses can change,” Joshi noted.

Influenza

The IDPH recommends flu vaccinations for everyone age 6 months and older.

“It’s early and I haven’t seen too many influenza cases just yet,” said Dr. Deanna Behrens, secretary for the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“We are, of course, worried this year in terms of what we were seeing last year. Last year was a pretty high-severity season for kids.”

Across the U.S., the rate of kids hospitalized for flu during the 2025-2026 respiratory virus season was the second highest since 2009-2010, and 191 children succumbed to the illness, Behrens explained.

AAP data also shows that 85% of children who have died from influenza were unvaccinated.

On the flip side, a recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study estimated that vaccinations prevented 180,000 flu-related hospitalizations and 12,000 flu-related deaths for patients of all ages in 2024-2025.

COVID-19

IDPH guidelines recommend COVID-19 shots for: all young children ages 6 to 23 months; children ages 2 through 17 years with risk factors that could cause severe outcomes, such as asthma, or whose parents want them to be vaccinated; pregnant women including after delivery and while breastfeeding; and all adults.

Parents who are hesitant about shots should talk to their pediatrician or family physician, Behrens advised.

“That relationship is such a powerful relationship. And that is where we can find the most accurate information on what is best for kids,” she said.

Joshi noted that as with flu, there’s a new vaccine for COVID-19 typically every year customized for the latest strain.

“It is really important for folks to get vaccinated for a number of reasons. One, it’s still great at preventing hospitalizations, emergency room visits and potentially death. It’s also very good for preventing Long COVID, which can cause long-term muscle aches, weakness, and brain fog.”

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)

“Of all the kids admitted to hospital, of course we see the very sickest kids, we had a lot of admissions last year for flu and for RSV,” said Behrens, a pediatric intensive care unit doctor in the Chicago area.

The virus infects the lungs and respiratory tract and can cause serious illnesses in babies and in adults with conditions such as lung disease.

The IDPH recommends RSV shots for: women during weeks 32 and 36 of pregnancy; adults ages 50 through 74 at risk of severe outcomes from RSV; seniors age 75 and older; all infants under 8 months whose mothers weren’t vaccinated; and children between 8 and 19 months who would face health risks if they contracted RSV.

Shots for all three diseases are currently available at retail pharmacies in the Chicago area.

With COVID and flu, “even if you yourself don’t have a high-risk condition, remember that getting vaccinated will help protect your family members, loved ones and vulnerable folks in the community,” Joshi said.

Meanwhile, the Cook County Department of Public Health plans to hold Saturday clinics offering flu and COVID-19 vaccinations in the suburbs starting Oct. 5. For information, go to cookcountypublichealth.org.

Measles

On Friday, the IDPH reported 23 confirmed measles cases this year, and urged residents who are not inoculated against the contagious disease to schedule shots as soon as possible.

The majority of infections involved outbreaks in Douglas and Moultrie counties, related to unvaccinated individuals.

Separate cases of measles have been identified in Kane and Madison counties.

“The key to preventing measles is the highly effective measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine, two doses of which are 97% effective in preventing measles,” IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said in a statement.

“While Illinois is fortunate to have high vaccination rates overall, there are still areas across the state with lower vaccination rates where people are at high risk,” he noted.

mpyke@dailyherald.com