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SciPod · Thursday · 12 min

When Winter Viruses Lost the Calendar

For decades, respiratory viruses seemed to follow a familiar seasonal script. As autumn cooled into winter, influenza returned, respiratory syncytial virus, better known as RSV, filled pediatric wards, and a collection of other viruses circulated alongside them. Hospitals could never predict the season perfectly, but experience provided a rough map of what was coming. Then COVID-19 arrived, and the map stopped matching the territory.

0:00-12:51

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For decades, respiratory viruses seemed to follow a familiar seasonal script. As autumn cooled into winter, influenza returned, respiratory syncytial virus, better known as RSV, filled pediatric wards, and a collection of other viruses circulated alongside them. Hospitals could never predict the season perfectly, but experience provided a rough map of what was coming. Then COVID-19 arrived, and the map stopped matching the territory.