Hospitals Struggling to Make Room During Flu-Season

Across the U.S., emergency departments have been slammed in the recent weeks by the rush of flu visits, forcing hospitals to create new spaces to house patients, restrict visitors and postpone elective surgeries.

Visits to hospitals, urgent care centers and other health clinics by people with flu symptoms have been towering for several weeks. As of mid-January, such visits had surpassed every flu season except 2009-10, when a new flu strain caused global pandemic. The dominant strain this season, H3N2, is especially deadly and the vaccine isn’t working well against it. So far there has been 37 children deaths this season, whereas last year only 20 deaths.

To cope with traffic to emergency departments, hospitals in the network are using so called “flex” spaces that aren’t usually needed for routine care. Those coming to the hospital with flu symptoms are put into a separate waiting area and given masks to prevent transmission and when possible, placed in a room with a single bed.

In the latest news regarding flu season, the centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that 49 states were reporting wide -spread flu activity. However California and other West Coast states were beginning to see a turnaround.