RSV and Flu

timekiller13

Old Mossy Horns
RSV and flu are running rampant ladies and gentleman.

Fortunately, the flu, while annoying and definitely not any fun for anyone, is generally mild. Outside of a few very old or fragile individuals, we are not seeing many flu admissions. Our flu positive rate was 25% last week in the ER. That’s up from 16% the week prior and 12.8% the week prior to that.

Now, RSV is a different story. Man, are we seeing some sick sick babies. And it’s not just my hospital. EVERYWHERE is getting hammered. We were trying to transfer a 2 month old today, and NO ONE had any pediatric ICU beds in NC. We were calling everywhere. Ended up getting lucky and Mission hospital had a bed open up, we were getting ready to send the kid to Virginia.

We are averaging 2 peds admissions PER SHIFT and 1.5 transfers per shift. That may not sound like much. But looking back at historical data over last 10 years, our worst year ever was less than 1 admission per day. My hospital does not have a peds ICU. We have an awesome NICU, but kids over the age of 30 days cannot go the NICU (something to do with credentialing and insurance I think). So these sick little 1 month-2 yr olds have to be sent out. It’s getting harder and harder to find a place for them. My ER team is amazing. Our docs are great and our nursing staff is getting really comfortable taking care of sick babies. Not something you really want to get good at, but I’m proud of my team. I can remember the days when everyone used to cringe and shy away from sick babies. That’s not the case any longer. Even our new, young nurses have had so much experience with sick kids that they just jump right in.

I hope this passes soon. Gonna be a rough few months.
 

jug

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
You got that right. My wife is seeing flu and covid in the hospital. Kids are being hospitalized with RSV. Stuff AINT no joke.
 

appmtnhntr

Twelve Pointer
That RSV isn’t a joke. My girl had a bad bout with it last year that put her in the PICU for two days.
That’s a scary thing watching your kid struggling to breathe.
It put me and the wife down pretty hard too.

Another round went through her school over a month ago and thankfully she didn’t bring it home.


We also had flu (from kiddos school) in august. Wasn’t too bad on any of us but I could see how it would knock others out.
 

Dhumpy

Four Pointer
At the doc yesterday with mine testing positive for flu (3 yr old). I’ve got it too but didnt waste a test, I mean kinda hard to care for a 3 yr old with out getting it. She’s been pretty good today though, wanted to go outside and play with the dogs awhile.
 

Moose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
We got something...... we had family Thanksgiving Sunday night........ wife came home from work last evening not feeling good and got worse as the night went on. I woke up this morning feeling like I was coming down with a cold. This afternoon I started running a fever. Planed to have a quiet Thanksgiving at home..... now it looks like we maybe eating soup tomorrow. So far I make 8 out of those who gathered.

Hopefully it's quick and we are over it soon.
 

KTMan

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Scary for parents to have to go through this. I couldn't imagine my child having to be placed in ICU and then being told no beds available.

My wife sent out message to our family yesterday. "If you are sick don't come". My system down from chemo and we have a 2 month old at house. We don't want to take any chances.
 

Cyperry

Ten Pointer
Contributor
Both of mine, 4 and 2, just got over it and then the flu hit. We’re all standing a doing ok, but it wasn’t fun.
 

venom17

Six Pointer
Granddaughter in Fla just came out of the hospital a week ago from having RSV, she is 3 mths old. Daughter fought the symptoms for almost 6 days before the hospital would admit her! They waited till she had a constant 102.5 fever, stomach breathing, and not eating before they did because all beds were full. St Pete hospital kept her for 2 days then transferred her to the children's hospital in Tampa where she went straight to the PICU. Stayed in there for 8 days before she started coming around. My daughter and wife was a total wreck. The other grandchildren also had it but did not get admitted.
 

Firedog

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
TK, what you and others have posted for the last couple of years, it is clear to me that our medical capabilities were and still are woefully unprepared for ANYTHING out of the ordinary. I get that it is impractical to be prepared for everything but it seems like there is virtually no ability to expand quickly, shift focus, mobilize etc.

I am sure there are some real reasons as to why that is, but I suspect there are some not so good reasons at play too.
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Well, Dad came down with something last night. High fever. Negative covid test. Probably flu. Thanksgiving meal is always at their house. Family has decided to keep it there, and Dad just stay locked away, but we run the risk of sharing it.
 

Helium

Old Mossy Horns
TK, what you and others have posted for the last couple of years, it is clear to me that our medical capabilities were and still are woefully unprepared for ANYTHING out of the ordinary. I get that it is impractical to be prepared for everything but it seems like there is virtually no ability to expand quickly, shift focus, mobilize etc.

I am sure there are some real reasons as to why that is, but I suspect there are some not so good reasons at play too.
It’s called they made it worse by mandating Covid shots for healthcare workers
 

valetroutfisherman

Ten Pointer
Background story.
A week ago Sunday/Monday, FIL (77) bad shape, in Hendersonville ICU. Heart- failure-stiffening up. High Co2 levels. Kidney failing. (He was previously in ICU in Brevard, b4 transfer). Piles of family visited. He wanted to hospice at home. Made it there Monday eve.
Family visited at home. Passed 4am Wed morning.
I started a deep dry cough Friday morning. ( i thought, oh no Bronchitis.) Got worse, moved up to my head. By Sat night/Sunday morning, frontbof my thighs ached, fingers hurt, sinus' draining like crazy. Bought Day/Nyguiled up.
Others were starting to feel sick.
Still had to do the viewing on Sat night and funeral Sunday afternoon. I masked up.
Couldnt rest. Was drinking Chicken broth with garlic like it was coffee. I even got the "Flu shot" a week before. Called out of work yesterday to rest another day. Im on the upside now. Sleeping better, but voice about gone.
But pretty much every famy member that visited the hospital and the house b4 FIL passed has got it now. Various degrees.
I thinK I had the flu. I couldnt get an appt at a urgent car or CVS. Even trying a day in advance.
I said screw it and rode it out with OTC's.
Is amazing how the FLU was non existant during COVID.
My wife and MIL were able to get into and urgent care in Brevard Tuesday eve. Upper Resp infection, they got Antibiotics and cough pearls.
 

Helium

Old Mossy Horns
Background story.
A week ago Sunday/Monday, FIL (77) bad shape, in Hendersonville ICU. Heart- failure-stiffening up. High Co2 levels. Kidney failing. (He was previously in ICU in Brevard, b4 transfer). Piles of family visited. He wanted to hospice at home. Made it there Monday eve.
Family visited at home. Passed 4am Wed morning.
I started a deep dry cough Friday morning. ( i thought, oh no Bronchitis.) Got worse, moved up to my head. By Sat night/Sunday morning, frontbof my thighs ached, fingers hurt, sinus' draining like crazy. Bought Day/Nyguiled up.
Others were starting to feel sick.
Still had to do the viewing on Sat night and funeral Sunday afternoon. I masked up.
Couldnt rest. Was drinking Chicken broth with garlic like it was coffee. I even got the "Flu shot" a week before. Called out of work yesterday to rest another day. Im on the upside now. Sleeping better, but voice about gone.
But pretty much every famy member that visited the hospital and the house b4 FIL passed has got it now. Various degrees.
I thinK I had the flu. I couldnt get an appt at a urgent car or CVS. Even trying a day in advance.
I said screw it and rode it out with OTC's.
Is amazing how the FLU was non existant during COVID.
My wife and MIL were able to get into and urgent care in Brevard Tuesday eve. Upper Resp infection, they got Antibiotics and cough pearls.
Exactly !! Majority of my family has the flu and hospitals are full BUT supposedly the last 2 years it didn’t exist and COVID was rampant

Follow the $$
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Well, Dad came down with something last night. High fever. Negative covid test. Probably flu.
Check that. He’s got Covid. Tested again because a close coworker tested positive. I’ve heard this a hundred times. Person tests negative for Covid then positive on second test the next day. It seems the tests often don’t return a positive for about 24 hours AFTER symptoms start.


If you don’t get tested for Covid and flu, you really have no idea what you have. Symptoms are pretty much identical and either is just as likely at this point. And even then, you might need to repeat the test.

So now I guess we can go back to people trashing the flu shot and marveling at how Covid “just disappeared” and “flu is back”, when in reality, most never got tested and have no clue.
 
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Chicken209

Six Pointer
Thanks to time killer and all healthcare workers on here. Great work and I for one respect the heck out of what you guys do.
 

timekiller13

Old Mossy Horns
Last week 30.34% positive rate for flu!! That’s our ER numbers.

TK, what you and others have posted for the last couple of years, it is clear to me that our medical capabilities were and still are woefully unprepared for ANYTHING out of the ordinary. I get that it is impractical to be prepared for everything but it seems like there is virtually no ability to expand quickly, shift focus, mobilize etc.

I am sure there are some real reasons as to why that is, but I suspect there are some not so good reasons at play too.
You are actually incorrect. Medical facilities across the country rapidly expanded and shifted focus at the beginning of the pandemic. It’s just impossible to predict how bad something is going to be. You prepare for the worst and hope for the best. But, sometimes it’s even worse than ever imagined.

Now, post pandemic, we are experiencing a perfect storm, so to speak. Increased volumes due to lack of access to primary care, increased acuity level due to lack of primary care, a virulent strain of flu and RSV, reduced and burned out workforce due to pandemic. All that added together makes for a rough time.

My hospital is at overflow capacity. We are fortunate that we do not have a staffing shortage. Every available bed is in use, no part of our facility is shut down. There are just so many sick people that we do not have the space for them all.

A typical day in the ER is now 40+ patients waiting in the lobby at any time. 7-10 hour wait times. We’ve added rooms, we’ve literally turned offices and storage closest into rooms that we see patients in.
 

Zuk84es

Four Pointer
Last week 30.34% positive rate for flu!! That’s our ER numbers.


You are actually incorrect. Medical facilities across the country rapidly expanded and shifted focus at the beginning of the pandemic. It’s just impossible to predict how bad something is going to be. You prepare for the worst and hope for the best. But, sometimes it’s even worse than ever imagined.

Now, post pandemic, we are experiencing a perfect storm, so to speak. Increased volumes due to lack of access to primary care, increased acuity level due to lack of primary care, a virulent strain of flu and RSV, reduced and burned out workforce due to pandemic. All that added together makes for a rough time.

My hospital is at overflow capacity. We are fortunate that we do not have a staffing shortage. Every available bed is in use, no part of our facility is shut down. There are just so many sick people that we do not have the space for them all.

A typical day in the ER is now 40+ patients waiting in the lobby at any time. 7-10 hour wait times. We’ve added rooms, we’ve literally turned offices and storage closest into rooms that we see patients in.
Would you say natural immunity is down from many people spending two years staying home or dressed up like Bubble Boy for a trip to the store?
 

timekiller13

Old Mossy Horns
Would you say natural immunity is down from many people spending two years staying home or dressed up like Bubble Boy for a trip to the store?
most definitely. And masks did reduce the spread of flu and RSV because they are droplet spread viruses, not airborne like COVID.

The good thing is, while the flu sucks and makes you feel like crap, it is nowhere near as deadly as some of the bad early strains of COVID. The majority of the flu patients we see are just fine. Very few of our admissions are due to flu.
 

Firedog

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
You are actually incorrect. Medical facilities across the country rapidly expanded and shifted focus at the beginning of the pandemic. It’s just impossible to predict how bad something is going to be. You prepare for the worst and hope for the best. But, sometimes it’s even worse than ever imagined.

Now, post pandemic, we are experiencing a perfect storm, so to speak. Increased volumes due to lack of access to primary care, increased acuity level due to lack of primary care, a virulent strain of flu and RSV, reduced and burned out workforce due to pandemic. All that added together makes for a rough time.

My hospital is at overflow capacity. We are fortunate that we do not have a staffing shortage. Every available bed is in use, no part of our facility is shut down. There are just so many sick people that we do not have the space for them all.

A typical day in the ER is now 40+ patients waiting in the lobby at any time. 7-10 hour wait times. We’ve added rooms, we’ve literally turned offices and storage closest into rooms that we see patients in.
Interesting, but you are describing exactly what I am talking about, once you get outside the normal we are not set up to handle. Maybe that is a % thing, with some amount of flexibility built in but certainly not enough as the last 3 years have proven. As I said, it is impractical to be ready for every eventuality.

You point out that medical facilities rapidly expanded and shifted focus at the beginning of the pandemic and I agree, but at the cost of every other patient/illness (I am making a macro observation not an individual facility statement). We are still seeing it as has been observed here.. medical doctors refusing to see sick people in the office, urgent cares basically sending everyone to the hospital.. etc. They system is broken IMO.

I have no real idea how to fix it.. I am not qualified; but the broken is obvious. That is not a dig in any way at the folks doing super human things in the broken system. I don't think it is on you guys to fix. I expect like most things the first step is to adjust things on the legal liability side of the house as fear of suit drives a lot of decisions. Secondarily, hospitals need to be able to turn people away, but those are really just guesses on my part.

Thanks again for the conversation and real time observations from the trenches
 

DozerD

Six Pointer
Well aware of the seriousness of rsv. My youngest (17months) got hand/foot/mouth, two weeks later tested positive for the flu, and four weeks after that took a ride via ambulance from the pediatricians office to the ER. All is well now, she’s an extremely tough little girl! Thanks for what you do timekiller, it’s got to be a hard job
 
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