North Texas Hospitals Overwhelmed With Pediatric Flu, RSV Cases

Hospitals across North Texas are dealing with an influx of sick kids right now.

Emergency rooms are getting the brunt of it, with flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and other illnesses causing parents to rush their kids to get help.

Cook Children’s in Fort Worth shared the busy week its emergency department staff have been experiencing, with hundreds of patients seen in just a 24-hour period on Tuesday.

Stephen Love, president and CEO of the DFW Hospital Council, said much of the same is happening at hospitals across North Texas.

According to the Texas Hospital Association, 88 percent of pediatric beds across the state are occupied.

In North Texas, that number is a bit higher at 95 percent, which is similar to this time last year. Love said the higher percentage in comparison to the state is because metro areas tend to see an influx of patients from rural hospitals in outer-lying counties that do not have sufficient resources.

However, Love added they are not worried about a bed capacity issue because most of this surge is coming from the emergency departments, where many of these patients are treated as an outpatient and returned home.  

“It doesn’t mean that all of those will be admitted in become an inpatient,” he said.

He said that both pediatric and adult patients who are severely ill with flu or other illnesses are being hospitalized.

RSV is usually seen in the heart of winter and early spring but this big increase in cases so early is unusual. Doctors are concerned it could get worse.

“We are monitoring this closely because the increased volume in late October and anticipated in early November could indicate a very long flu and RSV season this year,” Love said. “I’ve talked to many of our emergency departments last night, they’re treating more and more adults for flu. It doesn’t mean they’re becoming an inpatient, but they’re in the emergency department.”

Another big issue that affected hospitals are parents bringing children into the ER with only mild symptoms or testing requests. That, in addition to staffing shortages, is pushing up wait times and patient volumes.

According to the CDC, RSV results in around 58,000 annual hospitalizations and 100 to 300 deaths among children under 5 each year in the U.S.

“We even saw that in COVID, where a lot of people would show up at emergency departments for the sole purpose of ‘Can you test me, I’m showing some mild symptoms,’” he said. “And as a result, we had overcrowding. So I think what you will hear from the children’s hospitals is that if it’s a true emergency, we’re always here for you. If you’re having very mild symptoms – and you do have a pediatrician or a primary care provider – you may want to go there first before you come to the emergency department. And that’ll help as far as the workflow.”

Some good news – COVID cases account for less than 2 percent of overall bed capacity in North Texas.

“Currently COVID has a very manageable level,” Love said. “Our pediatrics in the hospital with COVID in [North Texas] is in single digits. So that’s good news. It doesn’t mean people aren’t still getting infected, but many are being infected and they’re staying at home. Some had been vaccinated.”

The only other concern is if another new COVID-19 variant came to North Texas and increased inpatient and outpatient volumes, which would then strain hospital capacity.

“Not trying to upset anybody and not trying to push the panic button – but there are some new variants out there in the United Kingdom and in Singapore. These variants are beginning to peak there, which increased the number of people in the hospitals,” Love said. “I am certainly not saying that we’re going to have another surge like we’ve had in the past – but if we incrementally go up in COVID, we go up in RSV, and we go up in Flu – that translates to inpatient hospitalizations and it’s going to be a capacity issue potentially.”

There’s also concern about the Halloween holiday causing an uptick in infections of various illnesses due to close contact and contamination through candy.

Doctors are reminding parents to help stop the spread by washing their children’s hands, encouraging good hygiene and exercising caution.

Health experts from the Texas Hospital Association are sharing the do’s and don’ts with parents on how to handle this wave of illness right now:

• DON’T: Seek hospital emergency care for non-emergency medical conditions, such as mild symptoms and routine testing.
• DO: Contact your healthcare provider for guidance as warranted.
• DO: Seek hospital emergency care if symptoms are worrisome and emergency care is needed. Emergency medical conditions can include difficulty breathing, dehydration and worsening symptoms.
• DO: Get vaccinated against the flu, if eligible. Visit Find Flu Vaccines at www.vaccines.gov to search for flu vaccine availability.
• DO: Be patient if seeking care through a hospital emergency department. Consider that wait times may be elevated as respiratory illnesses reach seasonal peak levels.