Canadians are exhausted due to ‘tripledemic’

By,

Dhevin Indar, Podcast

Daxnie Desmoulin, Podcast

Eriane Christie, Article

Roshan Singh, Data Visualization

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many people’s lives during the past three years. But Canadians have managed by following the pandemic restrictions and keeping masks on, but just as there was a light at the end of the tunnel for the COVID-19 pandemic, the tripledemic struck. A tripledemic is the overlapping RSV, the flu, and COVID-19 to the extent that it overwhelms hospitals. These three viruses have very similar symptoms, so distinguishing them from one another has become difficult. Because of this, the numbers for COVID-19 testing have increased because it’s hard to know the difference between having the flu or an RSV virus because the symptoms are the same.

And although the number of Covid tests has gone up, the number of RSV cases is also on the rise due to the season.

The tripledemic has caused panic and concern among the public, leading people not knowing whether or not they have a common cold or the COVID-19 virus. Because hospitals are full with children and seniors, people no longer want to go to hospitals if they need care or help. It is more likely that people will Google their symptoms to see if they can differentiate whether or not they have Covid or the flu.

As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused stress for many people; the tripledemic is also doing the same. It’s affecting everyday people like Margret Liu, who has an elderly parent that she is taking care of

Margaret retired after working at a bank for 35 years. Now, she enjoys volunteering or spending a lot of time with her family. But living with an elderly parent can be difficult.

“How it affected me is indirectly through my parent, my dad, specifically a senior, I was quite nerve-wracking to know whether it’s safe or not safe to send him out in the public to do his daily run of his routine life day by day. The only thing that I could just reassure him to give him some form of reassurance, to wear masks, to be extra careful to sanitize to have no repercussions of taking a risk. But even that is not very safe. Because we can, it’s air; it’s by touch, it could be airborne when it comes to COVID-19. The flu, because it’s quite similar symptoms, is quite confusing. It creates anxiety amongst people amongst ourselves.”

But one of the biggest demographic of people that the tripledemic has affected has been healthcare professionals, like nurses and PSW‘s due to the big high strain on hospitals and healthcare centres.

Camla Dharamdial is a Nurse at Markham Stouffville hospital. she says that Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is overwhelming hospitals because it creates a blockage in the system, which affects the heart, kidneys and lungs. This leads people to rush to the hospitals, especially because it is “flu season.” Camla has been a PSW for 15 years, and she’s never seen anything like this before. The hospital has long wait times for the number of adults because the hospital is overflowing with sick children.