COVID, flu cases on the rise in North Texas, hospital officials say
Respiratory viral season is in full bloom with COVID, flu and RSV cases keeping medical providers across the Metroplex busy.
"Sometimes it's hard for families to determine what is going on," said Dr. Preeti Sharma, a pediatric pulmonologist at Children's Health Dallas.
During Christmas week, Children's Health saw 496 flu cases system-wide, which includes inpatient, outpatient and emergency room visits.
RSV and COVID were a bit lower, but still high with 220 and 118 cases respectively.
In some school districts, it was a relatively short three weeks between Thanksgiving and winter break.
"Anytime kids have been out of school, traveling and doing other things and come back together in that group environment, there's always a spike in respiratory viral cases," Dr. Sharma explained.
She added that flu vaccination rates for kids this year is down by about 5 percent.
Dr. Sharma says part of the reason is due to vaccination hesitancy and fatigue.
"It's not too late. Even though flu cases are going up, I don't think we've seen them peak," she noted.
Adults are suffering from respiratory illnesses too and many are ending up in the hospital.
"So we've doubled that number in, you know, relatively 4 to 5 weeks," said Stephen Love, the president of the DFW Hospital Council.
As of Wednesday, Love says there are 706 people in North Texas hospitals who tested positive for COVID.
That is an increase of 67 people from Tuesday.
"If you aren't current on your COVID vaccines, please give careful consideration to do so and do prevention like wash your hands, use hand sanitizer in large groups, especially if you have underlying health conditions. You may want to wear a mask," Love added.
Love also noted that the CDC has listed Texas as a high activity level for influenza and the Texas Health Department of State Health Services indicates it has seen a nearly 5 percent increase in positive flu testing.
"So not trying to panic anyone, but what we're trying to say is influenza is on the increase. COVID is on the increase," Love said. "We've got to do everything we can to try to stop the spread of the infections."
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RSV cases seem to be leveling out.
To help prevent the spread of these respiratory viruses, Dr. Sharma recommends that school-aged children showing signs of illness, such as fever and fatigue, stay home if possible.
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