Application of a forecasting model to mitigate the consequences of unexpected RSV surge: Experience from the post-COVID-19 2021/22 winter season in a major metropolitan centre, Lyon, France.

Abstract

The emergence of COVID-19 triggered the massive implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) which impacted the circulation of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) during the 2020/2021 season. A time-series susceptible-infected-recovered (TSIR) model was used early September 2021 to forecast the implications of this disruption on the future 2021/2022 RSV epidemic in Lyon urban population. When compared to observed hospital-confirmed cases, the model successfully captured the early start, peak timing, and end of the 2021/2022 RSV epidemic. These simulations, added to other streams of surveillance data, shared and discussed among the local field experts were of great value to mitigate the consequences of this atypical RSV outbreak on our hospital paediatric department. TSIR model, fitted to local hospital data covering large urban areas, can produce plausible post-COVID-19 RSV simulations. Collaborations between modellers and hospital management (who are both model users and data providers) should be encouraged in order to validate the use of dynamical models to timely allocate hospital resources to the future RSV epidemics.