HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau is asking providers to share an important message about an unprecedented surge of respiratory illness in children. While the typical RSV season begins in late fall, this year’s outbreak started in the spring and severe illness continues to increase. Most children are exposed to the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, in the first year of life and almost all have been infected within 2 years. While RSV infections can be severe in the first 6 months, subsequent infections are usually milder, causing cold-like symptoms. During the first 18 months of the pandemic, masking and distancing measures kept the virus from circulating. But this year and last, as in-person gatherings increased and children when back to school and daycare without masks, the virus has affected kids with little to no immunity.
