New York (WABC) — Emergency rooms are filling up fast, and health officials are treating adults with both influenza and COVID, and young pediatric patients with RSV.
The annual winter flu season usually doesn’t start until December or January, but this year it started earlier, complicated by the spread of other viruses, and COVID is still protracted.
Last week, 44 states reported high or very high flu activity, according to the CDC.
Thanksgiving gatherings and crowded airports are likely to have spread the respiratory virus more, experts say.
The CDC estimates that there have been at least 78,000 hospitalizations and 4,500 deaths from the flu so far this season.
The dead include at least 14 children.
They said the flu and RSV problem is that the virus puts more restrictions on emergency rooms that are experiencing other emergencies like heart attacks and strokes, so be careful to control infections. I say that’s why you have to.
Senator Schumer is calling on the Department of Human Services on Sunday to be ready to provide emergency rooms with the doctors and nurses they need.
“Our emergency department is almost overwhelmed where we are on the water, but normally we see 200 children every day in a 24-hour period. I’ve met people’s children,” Schumer said.
With the holiday season approaching, health officials are asking people to exercise caution when entering and exiting indoor gatherings.
Get your flu shot now and you’ll be protected before the Christmas and New Year holidays.
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