How sick will you get this winter? Louisiana is at a higher risk for illness this season.

Victoria Spain Robinson sits with her godson, twenty-month-old Kristopher Head, in her living room, Wednesday, July 14, 2021, in Baton Rouge La. Head was hospitalized with RSV. Despite a powerful summer surge of COVID-19 infections, federal health authorities said the outlook for the upcoming respiratory virus season this fall and winter is the same or maybe even a bit better than last year.

But the prediction, made at a press briefing last week, hinges on whether people continue to get vaccinated, said Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Louisiana has seen increasingly lower uptake of vaccinations across the board since the pandemic.

Last year, . "If ..

. the number of people who ultimately get vaccinated against flu, COVID and RSV is lower than expected, then that could mean more hospitalizations, not fewer," said Cohen. "So the power is in our hands.

" Simultaneous circulation of flu, COVID and RSV have been dubbed a “tripledemic” in the past for the strain it puts on hospitals. Last year was one of Louisiana’s worst flu seasons after several mild respiratory seasons when people were taking extra precautions due to COVID-19. The CDC estimates that there have been at least 35 million illnesses, 400,000 hospitalizations, and 25,000 deaths from flu so far this season.

While state-level data are not yet available, Louisiana typically sees between 500 to 1,000 deaths from flu yearly. The past season included five pediatric flu deaths.