Hospitals seeing increase in respiratory illnesses in children

NORTHAMPTON, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- Hospitals from coast-to-coast are being overwhelmed with a surge of respiratory viruses, especially among young children. It’s causing emergency departments to fill up, including some throughout the northeast and in western Massachusetts.

“We have definitely noticed the acuity going up and the volume going up. We’ve had more pediatric transfers in the past few weeks than we usually do,” said Sara McKeown, nurse director of emergency and ambulatory services at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

On a local level, Cooley Dickinson Hospital told Western Mass News that they are seeing an uptick in sick children with respiratory illnesses coming into their emergency department over the past few weeks.

“We are seeing sick kiddos. The respiratory illnesses that are out there, we’re seeing a number of sick children, and we don’t admit pediatrics at Cooley Dickinson, so we stabilize and then we ship the patients or transfer the patients to another hospital,” McKeown explained.

McKeown told us those young patients are sent to Connecticut or Baystate Children’s Hospitals. Meanwhile, the pediatrician-in-chief at Baystate Children’s Hospital told Western Mass News that they still have capacity at their hospital and said, in part:

“RSV is rising quickly but not quite as predominant as rhinovirus, enterovirus and adenovirus, which are also surging. Baystate children’s hospital today is 85% full, with 1/3 cases from respiratory disease from all these viruses.”

State Representative Brian Ashe, who is also on the state’s public health committee, told us he is aware of the challenges that local hospitals are currently facing.

“They are really getting hammered from the eastern part of the state too with the lack of beds, so you want to make sure that they don’t run out of beds and they don’t have any issues where they’re having difficulty caring for these young patients,” Ashe explained.

He told us he is continuing to have open conversations with those hospitals.

“I was just speaking with representatives from Baystate earlier today, so anything the state can do, but this something that hospitals are going to keep us abreast of the situation and how it’s going…if it’s spiking more or coming down or if they really are in dire need,” Ashe said.

Linda Riley, manager of infection prevention at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, shared this message.

“Call your pediatrician first before you come to the E.D. Very often, early symptoms can be resolved with a call to the doctor or your own provider, who knows you and knows your child. We want to save the E.D. for people who are seriously ill,” Riley noted.

Cooley Dickinson also added that they are continuing to deal with staffing shortages in their hospital as well.