Hospitals at capacity due to surge in RSV cases
By La’Nita Brooks
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SAGINAW, Michigan (WNEM) — RSV patients have hospitals across the state overwhelmed, as they are struggling to keep up with the number of children coming in.
“It’s terrible” said Dr. Nicole Sinclair Pediatric Intensive Care Doctor at Covenant Medical Center. “It’s really bad we’re having a pretty significant season.”
Hurley Medical center in Flint says pediatric beds are at 100% capacity with children who have the virus.
And as of yesterday, 90% of hospitalized patients in the Covenant pediatric unit in Saginaw were RSV-positive.
“In the last couple of years, it’s definitely worse than what it has been” Dr. Sinclair said. “During Covid it was pretty quiet, we didn’t have a lot of patents. This year we’re kind of seeing a earlier surge of patients and more volume for sure.”
RSV often starts out similar to a cold, with symptoms such as cough, sneeze and a fever. But as the virus progresses it can sometimes lead to more serious and even deadly symptoms like shortness of breath. So far, one death has been reported in Michigan.
“The majority of the kids will be fine from it, but they need hospitalization” said Dr. Sinclair. “But there has been kids who have died from RSV virus.”
Sinclair says children as young as one month and as old as 6-years-ol have been coming in- spending an average of four to five days in the hospital.
Sinclair adds that regardless of how busy the hospital may be at a given time, parents should not hesitate to bring in children who need immediate attention.
“If they see your baby come in and they’re breathing hard, they will triage and get them back as quickly as they possibly can” Dr. Sinclair said. “And they notify us quite quickly if there’s a baby that needs more support than what was expected.”
RSV is often harder on children who have underling conditions such as asthma and bronchitis. Parents who notice their baby is in respiratory distress, should seek immediate help.
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