South Florida hospitals are seeing an increase in patients with flu-like symptoms.
“Fortunately here in the Memorial Healthcare System we do have the capacity to manage volumes that we’re not used to seeing," Dr. Randy Katz said. "For instance, in pediatrics we typically see this time of year 5,000 patients a month, this past month we saw almost 8,000 patients, so a fairly large increase in volume.”
Memorial's Emergency Medicine Director said they've had days in which more than 300 kids have come in with viral symptoms.
“It’s been a busy, busy month, particularly for pediatricians," Dr. Katz said. "There’s definitely a lot of viral infection, not just flu, COVID and RSV. We’re seeing rhinovirus, paramyxovirus and they’re all happening at the same time so it’s making it really difficult to handle the volume of patients coming in with influenza-like illness.”
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The volume, however, seems to be lower at Jackson Memorial Hospital according to the chief medical officer.
“We’re seeing the RSV and the influenza increasing slightly, COVID is fortunately actually staying relatively flat," said Dr. Hany Atallah of JMH.
Nationally, the tripledemic has filled 78% of children's hospitals -- one in Kansas City has more than 1,000 flu cases in one week.
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In Kentucky, 30 school districts has to close at least one school this month because so many kids are sick.
One little girl in Boston spent a week in the hospital.
“It was terrifying. It was surreal seeing your daughter on a breathing mask and she’s only three and a half,” said her mother.
If you are wondering what you can do to reduce the chances of contracting any of these diseases, wash your hands frequently, stay home if you're sick, open your windows and get vaccinated.
“There’s a lot of controversy, a lot of discussion about vaccines, the reality is, some protection is better than no protection," Dr. Atallah said. "We’ve shown time and time again that people who get the COVID vaccines who end up getting COVID, have more mild disease and have a lower likelihood of dying or becoming hospitalized because of it.”
