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| The State of Oregon, Hospitals, and Parents are Uncertain and Worried as a Result of RSV Hospitalizations |
According to the CDC, Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection (RSV) Has Been At Unprecedented Levels In Hospitals Nationwide At Nearly 7x The Weekly Rate Pre-Covid, SUNY Upstate Health Center Has Already Recorded 3X More RSV Cases This Year, Putting Their Emergency Room Over Capacity At 136% Capacity
RSV Can Be Serious For Young Children And The Elderly; Onondaga County's SUNY Upstate Had Over 1,000 RSV Cases Since November Alone; Madison County's Oneida Health Hospital Positive RSV Cases Have Nearly Doubled Compared To Last Year; With 80% Of Cases Being Children Under 5 Years Old
Pediatric hospitals in Oregon are already overstaffed to handle all the young kids who require specialized care in the midst of the worst RSV season on record. However, according to health professionals, the situation will worsen over the next several weeks. If the number of respiratory syncytial virus infections hits a critical mass, it is unclear what the state and hospitals will do.
Dr. Melissa Sutton of the Oregon Health Authority stated in an interview on Friday that "hospital resources are not endless." We may eventually encounter a situation in which there are no available hospital beds.
A typical respiratory virus called RSV often causes minor, cold-like symptoms. RSV may be highly hazardous, especially for small children and elderly adults, according to Schumer, even though the majority of individuals recover in a week or two. Of infants under the age of one, RSV is the most frequent cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the tiny airways in the lung) and pneumonia (lung infection) in the United States.
RSV cases have already increased this year by three times over last year at SUNY Upstate Health Center. In 2022, SUNY Upstate identified 1,800 RSV cases overall, with more than 1,000 positive tests alone in November.
The average daily pediatric emergency department volume at Upstate Health Center increased from 92% in August to 136% in November as a result of the rise in RSV patients. Oneida Health has tallied 224 instances so far in 2022, with 40% of them occurring in November alone—nearly twice as many as in the previous year.
The Children's Hospital Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a warning last week stating that the combination of "record levels" of RSV and rising flu activity is straining many hospitals to the breaking point. At least 66 positive RSV tests have been reported at Oneida Health Hospital since the beginning of November, which is more than the combined total of positive COVID and influenza testing over the same time period.
In comparison to last year, the SUNY Upstate Health Center has already seen roughly 3X as many instances of RSV elsewhere in the area. 1,606 positive RSV tests were found in only the months of October and November, with over 1,000 positive tests in November alone, out of the 1,824 total RSV tests that SUNY Upstate reported this year.
Schumer:- RSV Is Increasing, And The Feds Must Act Now To Assist Upstate Hospitals.
The average daily pediatric emergency department volume at Upstate Health Center increased from 92% in August to 136% in November as a result of the rise in RSV patients. The only children's hospital serving 19 counties in CNY is SUNY Upstate Golisano Children's Hospital.
This severe strain coincides with an increase in flu cases across New York State, severely taxing the healthcare system. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, RSV hospitalizations among infants aged six months and younger have increased by more than seven times from the weekly average seen prior to the Covid-19 outbreak.
