U.S. hospitals are feeling the strain of this flu season, with many announcing visitor restrictions as cases remain elevated nationwide.
Minnesota hospitals are leaning on triage systems to deal with the influx of patients and hospitals in North Carolina and South Carolina have prohibited visits from children and teenagers.
Hospital visitors in Indiana have been strongly encouraged to wear face masks, and Washington state health officials reported that local emergency departments are seeing five times the threshold of flu visits that would alert officials to increased transmission.
“As we see more and more children in the hospital and more and more in the community, it becomes necessary to limit the number of visitors at the bedside both to help prevent the spread of these infections but also for logistics of taking care of patients when we’re this crowded,” Corewell Health’s Dr. Matthew Denenberg told FOX 2 Detroit last week.
“We’ve been raging for several weeks now, at very high levels,” Dr. Fred Lopez, an LSU Health New Orleans infectious diseases specialist, told WVUE on Tuesday.
“In fact, more than 80% of the country has high-to-very high levels of flu-like illness being reported in their areas of the country. So, we know it’s very high here. It’s been high for weeks,” he said.
The latest data from federal health officials estimates that there have been at least 9.1 million illnesses and 110,000 hospitalizations thus far this flu season. Emergency room visits are now very high.
There have also been 4,700 deaths, including 16 children who have died.
A national map shows the highest level of infections in Oregon, New Mexico, Louisiana and Tennessee. Although, several other states are listed as places with “very high” levels of infection.
While it remains unclear how this year will compare to previous flu seasons, elevated influenza activity is expected to continue for “several more weeks,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Flu tends to peak between December and February. The agency recommends that everyone ages six months and older get an annual flu shot.
To help avoid catching the flu, people can protect themselves from infection by washing their hands with soap. If there’s no soap or water, using a hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol is also effective. Cleaning surfaces is also crucial to stop viral spread.
Symptoms of flu include fever, cough, sore throat, a runny or stuffed up nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue, and sometimes vomiting and diarrhea.
“We have a really long way to go with this flu season,” Dr. David Janz, director of medical critical care service at University Medical Center in New Orleans, told TODAY.com on Wednesday. “We aren’t even halfway up (last year’s) curve of influenza hospitalizations. ... We’re maybe 25 percent.”
