Amid doctors’ calls for protective measures against influenza and COVID this winter, some new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports highlight the need for Atlanta clinicians and residents to pay attention to another respiratory virus on the rise.

Concerns over high cases of two common respiratory viruses have doctors encouraging vaccinations and precautionary measures leading into the holiday season. Doctors are blaming high case rates on “immunity debt.”

Burning oil, coal and other fossil fuels releases plumes of tiny, dangerous particles. A new study estimates that eliminating that pollution would save about 50,000 lives in the U.S. each year.

For COVID patients, ECMO is a last-ditch respiratory treatment in which only about half survive. Yet a new small study suggests many lives would still have been saved if there had been more machines.

A map of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths around the world. The respiratory disease has spread rapidly across six continents and has killed at least 2 million globally.

With the flu season looming, public health officials urge nearly all Americans over 6 months old to get immunized starting next month. Strategize now to avoid getting the flu while COVID-19 is raging.