Experts are concerned Thanksgiving gatherings could accelerate a 'tripledemic'

For each of the last two years, Thanksgiving helped usher in some very unwelcome guests: Devastating waves of COVID-19.

No one thinks this year will be anything like the last two dark pandemic winters, at least when it comes to COVID-19. But the country is now dealing with a different kind of threat — an unpredictable confluence of old and new respiratory pathogens.

"We're facing an onslaught of three viruses — COVID, RSV and influenza. All simultaneously," says Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University. "We're calling this a tripledemic."