Weymouth – South Shore health officials say the system is grappling with lingering staffing shortages and a full emergency room as people battle three respiratory illnesses: COVID-19, RSV and the flu.
Todd Ellerin, Ph.D., Director of Infectious Diseases, South Shore Health, said: “We’ve been dealing with COVID alone for three years, and now we have unprecedented levels of RSV and unprecedented levels of flu early in the season. Not that we didn’t see this in January, but November and early December is very early.”
All but seven states reported high or very high respiratory virus activity this week, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Massachusetts is classified as “very high,” with her 3% of flu-related doctor visits and hospitalizations at about 6%.
Rochelle Walensky, director of the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said last week that flu-related hospitalizations this time of year are higher than seen in a decade.
At South Shore Health’s Health Express emergency care facility, about 32% of patients tested for flu in the last week came back positive, compared with 7% for COVID-19, Ellerin said.
