By Ada Kessler

The winter months are notorious for making people sluggish and all around unhappy. The short days and general lack of sunlight lead to decreased vitamin D as well as general sadness and fatigue. These feelings are only worsened by the constant sickness in the wintertime.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, certain illnesses become more common in the colder months as people spend more time inside, letting viruses pass easily from person to person. The new year has been no exception, with myriad sicknesses on the rise. Instead of the common flu or cold, it appears bird flu and norovirus are on the rise.

Bird flu is “an infectious type of influenza that spreads among birds,” according to the National Health Service UK. Typically, bird flu doesn’t spread to humans except in very rare cases—often the result of touching an infected bird or killing an infected bird for cooking. Despite its rarity, bird flu can lead to more severe illness such as pneumonia if left untreated.

Norovirus, on the other hand, is much more common in humans. It is essentially a stomach bug detached from any flu that causes inflammation in the stomach/intestines according to the CDC. Norovirus is incredibly contagious, as people can spread the illness even after they physically recover.

These illnesses are quite different, but both have been rising in cases throughout the United States. Bird flu has been affecting chickens, leading to the “record chicken deaths” of more than 20 million chickens according to CBSNews. Additionally, NBC news reported that certain raw pet food brands have been contaminated with bird flu, causing sickness and even death in cats.

There have also been “an unusually high number of norovirus outbreaks,” according to the New York Times. Norovirus doesn’t tend to impact animals, so it likely will not impact pets or the price of certain foods like bird flu. Instead, norovirus will target humans as cases continue to rise.

With these increasing cases, some people have taken to social media to share their concerns for a “second pandemic.” There seems to be lots of genuine concern with many people saying they “feel like” another pandemic is coming. These fears aren’t unfounded given the circumstances, but they may be realistic as more time passes.

Take the monkeypox outbreak, for example. Back in 2022, when cases arose, similar nervous sentiments appeared on social media of people claiming another pandemic was on its way. However, another pandemic never happened. There was fear for roughly two weeks, and then it went away as monkeypox died down.

This seems to happen anytime a new or mysterious illness is mentioned somewhere on social media. No matter what corner of the world it’s from, the comments are filled with people swearing a new pandemic is underway. The covid-19 pandemic seems to have given people nearly traumatic responses to any sickness that spikes. It seems plausible that bird flu and norovirus are only the newest instances of this phenomena.

According to CBSnews, bird flu is so prominent this winter because a strain of bird flu “spilled” into dairy herds, causing hundreds of infected herds. CBS news also reported that a new strain of norovirus is causing most of the current cases. Additionally, the Washington State Department of Health reported that shellfish can be contaminated with norovirus due to the condition of certain marine environments. Of course, having an explanation for the rise in cases doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t continue to spread, but it can make it easier to stop additional outbreaks.

Given this context, the situation is likely not nearly as catastrophic as people on social media have made it out to be. These aren’t mysterious illnesses coming out of nowhere and causing mass death. In fact, norovirus and bird flu are very common winter illnesses, they just seem new now that they’re getting media attention. 

It’s good to be cautious about sickness, especially if you’re high risk or around high risk people such as the elderly or those with autoimmune conditions. However, this caution shouldn’t be turned into fear mongering. The truth is, there’s probably always going to be some illness spiking or mutating. This is especially true in these winter months where viruses become much more prevalent. It is reasonable to take any cries of pandemic doom that you see on social media with a grain of salt.