WESTFIELD, Mass. - Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield is seeing major increases in the number of COVID-19 and influenza cases this year and is expecting to see those numbers climb even high​er throughout the winter.

What You Need To Know

  • Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield is seeing an increase in the number of COVID-19, influenza and strep throat cases this year

  • They said this flu season is expected to be one of the worst in decades

  • Doctors say its important to get all vaccinations and wear a mask during travel and get-togethers this holiday season.

  • The bivalent vaccine, which protects against COVID-19, is now available for children over the age of 6 months

Chief of Emergency Medicine Dr. Sundeep Shukla said the medical facility has seen a slight decline in the number of RSV cases of late. On the flip side, the hospital has seen other illnesses like strep increase. 

"I think it's a combination of a lot of things," Shukla said. "One, it's people not wearing masks. There's more people out and about and then like you said, people were not exposed to all these viruses in the past and now it's actually causing issues where people are passing it onto other people and they may not even know they have influenza or COVID."

Shukla said vaccine fatigue has also played a large role, saying less people are getting shots to treat these illnesses.

"People just don't know if they really want it," Shukla said. "Some people have told me multiple times that ,'You know, I haven't gotten COVID so far so I don't need to get the vaccine.' But I think there's new variants coming out all the time and it's really important that we protect ourselves from that."

Shukla said the flu is also something people should get vaccinated for. This winter is expected to be one of the worst for the virus in decades.

Shukla said they're already seeing a lot of COVID-19 and flu cases in other parts of the world like Asia and Australia and he suspects that could lead to another surge in the U.S.

"Normally, both of these illnesses come in February, March, maybe late January," Shukla said. "But we're seeing this much earlier this season so there could another experience of higher numbers of influenza, COVID and RSV later in the season because things are happening earlier as well."

Shukla strongly suggests people get their vaccinations as well as wearing a mask during holiday travel as well as during get-togethers. He also said the bivalent vaccine, which protects against COVID-19, is also now available for children over the age of 6 months.