Coronavirus Watch: As RSV cases surge, is a vaccine in the works?

Around the country, pediatric hospital wards are filling up with young children fighting respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV. 

The virus has been particularly bad this fall, experts say, because the precautions taken during earlier days of the pandemic protected babies against RSV in addition to COVID-19. 

There has never been a way to prevent RSV, but several drug companies are working to develop vaccines or antibodies. Read more from reporter Karen Weintraub here.

It's Thursday, and this is Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's more news to know:

• Cruise lines continue to rollback COVID requirements: Royal Caribbean is no longer requiring pre-cruise testing on most sailings, and Disney will make a similar move later this month.
• Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the CDC, has tested positive again for COVID in an apparent rebound case after taking a course of the antiviral pill Paxlovid.
• Miguel Cardona, President Biden's education secretary, also tested positive the day after he attended Halloween festivities at the White House.
• During the first year of the pandemic, the heart disease death rate rose significantly, erasing years of progress, especially among Black and younger adults, according to preliminary data from the American Heart Association.

See our COVID-19 resource guide here. On boosters: 7.3% of Americans over 5 years old – 22.8 million people – have received a second, updated booster dose, according to the CDC.

– Cady Stanton, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @cady_stanton

Contributing: The Associated Press