The days are long and sunny — great conditions for meeting up with friends. It’s not even a week past the Fourth of July. Who wants to talk about COVID?

Health officials — that’s who. As summer reaches full swing, preparations are underway to prepare for winter’s spike in respiratory illnesses, which last year formed a “tripledemic” of flu, COVID and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

Reformulated COVID vaccines, based on the most common coronavirus variant at the time of production, will be ready for distribution, as will flu shots.

And based on the serious illnesses and fatalities resulting from RSV last year — and a breakthrough in vaccine technique — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has now endorsed two new vaccines that protect against respiratory syncytial virus, which is a particular threat for people 70 and older.

Officials are debating whether those 70 and older should be advised to get vaccinated for all three illnesses at once. But there is little debate over whether seniors and others vulnerable to respiratory infections should get the vaccines. They should.

COVID testing and other related services are no longer uniformly “free,” i.e., paid for by the federal government. But COVID vaccines will be administered at no additional cost to all who are insured, whether by private or public programs. Federally qualified health centers, which provide primary care to all regardless of ability to pay, are a resource for the uninsured.

And it’s important to recognize that COVID-19 has not left the islands. Last week, the state Department of Health reported a daily average of 71 cases across Hawaii, and an average of 48 COVID-19 patients hospitalized — no small number, in relation to our population.

Further, there were nine deaths in Hawaii involving COVID patients reported last week, all of people ages 60 and older.

East-West Center infectious disease expert Tim Brown notes that COVID-19 cases have been “pretty steady” since mid-May. Given that sustained incidence, the best course for most seniors, in particular, is to heed the advice of health care experts: Plan to schedule a COVID-19 booster shot, along with flu and RSV vaccines, as soon as they become available and official guidance is issued.

What’s new in all this is the pending availability of an RSV vaccine. Illnesses and complications from RSV jumped last winter, leading to a growing recognition that RSV is a serious threat to seniors and the immunocompromised, as well as young children.

In May, the Food and Drug Administration approved the new RSV vaccine for Americans younger than 60, and the CDC recommends that people 60 and older get the shot, if approved by their personal doctor.

It must also be recognized that the COVID vaccines being developed have been adapted to more prevalent forms of the coronavirus, and should not be considered “boosters,” but rather protective vaccines in a sense similar to the flu vaccine — altered to be most effective for the season. As with the flu vaccine, it’s wise to get this shot each year.

Experts are ramping up advice and information about COVID vaccines now in the hope that seniors will adopt the practice of getting an annual shot. On a national basis, 71% of adults 65 and older got a flu shot over the last winter season, while only about 43% got the COVID booster.

Brown advises Hawaii residents to take all available precautions to avoid contracting or spreading COVID and other infectious diseases — including the use of masks in crowded indoor spaces and on public transportation.

While seniors are particularly vulnerable, younger people infected by the coronavirus are more vulnerable to debilitating long COVID.

“Long COVID is nothing to ignore,” Brown said, and is a “good reason to avoid getting infected.”