California’s Orange County has declared a health emergency due to an overwhelming increase in respiratory illnesses that is pushing children’s hospitals to the brink.
Skyrocketing numbers of young patients are seeking emergency room care at area children’s hospitals for RSV, flu, flu-like illnesses and, to a lesser extent, COVID, the OC Health Care Agency said Monday. The emergency declaration will allow the county to receive help from the state and federal governments, and seek help from nearby counties.
RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus infection, is a common virus that hospitalizes thousands of infants and young children each year, although it can also pose a risk to the elderly. Symptoms can range from mild cold-like ailments such as sneezing, sore throat, fever, and nasal congestion to pneumonia, which can be fatal. Patients can quickly change for the worse.
Children’s Hospital of Orange County is treating more than 400 children in its emergency department daily, a record, and using all available space to meet the demands. It has activated a command center inside the hospital to manage the heavy load of patients, a spokesperson told Fortune in a statement Tuesday.
Southern California is far from alone, with hospitals across North America experiencing similar difficulties, with some even considering outdoor tents to house patients and enlisting the help of the National Guard.
Dr. James Stein, medical director of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, said his hospital is doing everything it can to accept transfers of respiratory patients from nearby hospitals that are overwhelmed but are fighting on their own.
“This increase in RSV and other respiratory illnesses has expanded our capacity in the emergency department,” he told Fortune in a statement.
The hospital is still admitting RSV patients and continues to make every effort to accept patient transfers. But due to capacity constraints, “we can’t always accommodate,” she said.
‘One of the worst waves I’ve ever seen’
The vast majority, about 75%, of children’s hospital beds in the US are currently full, according to NBC News. To the north, Canada is experiencing similar problems, with some children’s hospitals canceling surgeries, according to media reports. The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, a children’s hospital in Ottawa, had 130% capacity for intensive care beds and 134% capacity for inpatient beds, respectively, last week, Canadian television reported.
Anecdotally, the numbers ring true, Dr. Anita Patel, an intensive care physician at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC, told Fortune on Tuesday.
Patel is in contact with other children’s hospitals on the East Coast, “and almost all of the major ones” are nearly full, he said.
Children’s National has been operating near capacity for over a month. An additional team of senior ICU doctors has been formed to care for children who need ICU admission but must remain in the ER until a bed is opened, according to Patel.
The increase in pediatric patients was initially driven by the common cold, but was quickly outpaced by RSV. While RSV levels have plateaued since then, “the flu is really rising rapidly in our region,” she said, adding that her hospital hasn’t recently seen a significant number of patients with COVID or other coronaviruses that can cause illness. respiratory.
“I can honestly say that, unfortunately, with both RSV and the flu, we have had children who needed to be intubated or have breathing tubes to help them get through the viral illness,” she said.
“I’ve been an ICU doctor for a decade and I think I can safely say this is one of the worst surges I’ve ever seen.”
Early swell bodes badly for winter
Flu and RSV cases typically don’t spike until later in the year, leaving experts like Patel bracing for a potentially worse winter at children’s hospitals across the continent.
A few factors are likely contributing, Patel says, including neglect of pandemic precautions and the impact COVID can have on children’s immune systems, potentially making them more vulnerable to other viruses.
“Most children have had COVID, and there really could be something about COVID affecting children’s immune systems that we haven’t been able to fully understand at this point,” she said.
In addition, influenza A, the dominant flu strain so far this year, hit children in the southern hemisphere especially hard during the North American spring season. It seems to have a similar effect in children in the US and Canada, although experts aren’t sure if that’s due to something to do with the virus itself or other factors at play.
Healthy children get ‘incredibly’ sick every year, ICU doctor warns
Orange County public health officials advise parents to seek immediate medical attention for their children if they are having trouble breathing, if they show signs of dehydration, such as not urinating or have very dark urine, if they have a high or persistent fever, or if they look or act very sick. Parents in the county should call their pediatrician or the nearest urgent care center or hospital for advice on how to get care before going, according to the agency.
In the age of COVID, parents seem more concerned about children with pre-existing conditions when it comes to viral illnesses, and not always as concerned about those who are healthy.
Patel advises them to think twice and make sure all of their children are up to date on immunizations, as well as the friends and loved ones who spend time with them. It’s “one of the only tried and true ways to keep kids out of the hospital,” he said.
“Of course children with a pre-existing condition are at higher risk, but every year we see previously healthy children become incredibly sick and, in rare circumstances, die,” he said.
“That is why, among the doctors who attend the ICU, it would be difficult to find one who does not regularly and routinely vaccinate their children.”
Source: news.google.com