The Children’s Pain Relief Program at CVS, Walgreens, and cvs.com in the Context of a Coming Reheating Season
There is a limit to the number of pain relief products that can be used for kids at all of our stores, and at cvs.com. “We’re committed to meeting our customers’ needs and are working with our suppliers to ensure continued access to these items.”
Children’s pain relievers and fever reducers have been in short supply for weeks as respiratory infections — especially influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV — have made a comeback as more Americans develop immune protections to COVID-19.
While companies are running factories to meet demand, we will still encourage consumers to buy only what is necessary for their needs, so other families can find and purchase the medicines they are seeking.
The moves by CVS and Walgreens come amid a brutal respiratory virus season that continues to strain pediatric hospitals. Young children are particularly vulnerable to RSV, which has hospitalized more than 4 out of every 1,000 children younger than 5 this season, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC estimates that 33 million Americans have gotten the flu so far this season, with more than 10,000 cases being diagnosed each week until early December. Children are more vulnerable than most adults to both the flu and RSV.
On its informational page about treating a child’s fever, the American Academy of Pediatrics urges parents “not to panic” if they are unable to find fever-reducing medicine.
These medicines are not going to cure you. They do not alter the duration of the illness. They are essentially purely for comfort,” Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the Committee on Infectious Diseases for the AAP, told NPR earlier this month. “Fevers from common respiratory viruses in and of themselves are not harmful.”
Experts say there will likely be a post-holiday bump in respiratory virus numbers, and that could put an even greater strain on supplies of some medications that have been hard to find amid a severe illness season.
According to the CEO of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, there were an increase in Covid-19 cases and deaths after Thanksgiving. This time last year there was a lot of interest in testing centers.
Why aren’t Home Tests Available? The Evidence from the Omicron Flu and Its Implications for Covid-19 Prescription Medicine
When there are shortages of the drug, people who have a prescription to get it should call their pharmacy to ensure that it’s available there.
Flu hospitalizations have dropped for the second week in a row – a sign that activity is slowing in most parts of the country. The makers of over-the-counter medications believe that a slowdown will change their product’s use.
If Covid-19 follows a pattern similar to that of the Thanksgiving holiday there will be a wave of infections.
For now, case counts remain far below prior surges, but trends are on the rise. More than 1 in 6 Americans lives in a county considered to have a “high” community level. People in these areas should avoid public non-essential activities and wear a good quality mask while out.
During the Omicron wave last winter, more than 1.75 million people in the US got a Covid-19 PCR test at a pharmacy, medical office or testing center, according to the CDC’s seven-day average for the week of December 20. During the same period this year, only 382,807 people got a confirmed PCR test. It might not mean that people aren’t testing.
Mara Aspinall, a professor of practice in Biomedical Diagnostics at Arizona State University, said that there has been a shift to home tests. The reported figures show that there are eight times more tests being done at home.
At this point last year, home tests were a little tricky to find in some areas. Stores now reporting lots of supplies, and there is a chance that every single household in the country will be able to order up to four free tests. The White House says that in the first week after it restarted the free home test program, 11 million households took part.
All results from a public testing site are recorded by the CDC. Home test users can report results on the National Institutes of Health’s MakeMyTestsCount.org, but only about 2% of home results are reported, Aspinall said.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/28/health/flu-covid-rsv-medications-tests/index.html
Is it good to test for Covid-19 once you get sick? Dr. Simone Aspinall, M. Vietman, Ph. D. Nair, J. C. Poincar’e,
Also, people who get a Covid-19 reinfection probably aren’t testing as frequently as they did the first time they got sick, she said. People who have had this before are thinking about it. I know what it is. Aspinall said that Covid doesn’t test like it did the last time.
It’s still good to test for Covid-19, experts say, because treatments are available, but they work best if taken within a few days of symptoms starting.