North Texas hospitals 'overwhelmed' by RSV, flu cases due to earlier spike this year
DALLAS - RSV and now flu cases are making for a double whammy in North Texas.
According to the CDC, Texas is one of five states with a high level of flu.
It’s hitting much earlier than usual and that could pose problems as we head into winter.
Doctors that raised concerns about RSV a couple weeks ago are now seeing an earlier than usual spike in flu.
It’s already stressing hospital resources and closing schools.
Greenhill, a private school in Addison, closed grades 7-12 Thursday and Friday, citing an excessive number of absences from a flu-like illness.
RSV vaccine in the works as cases rise
In addition to COVID-19 and the flu, the respiratory virus RSV is an increasing concern, especially for young children and older adults in the United States. Good Day gets more information about a coming vaccine from FOX Medical Team reporter Deena Centofanti in Detroit.
"This is much earlier than we ever see it," said Dr. Laura Romano, with Cook Children’s Health Care System.
Cook Children’s Medical Center Hospital System said its emergency departments and urgent care centers are "overwhelmed."
Graphics show RSV cases this year are spiking earlier than in years’ past, and now flu cases are spiking earlier too.
Flu cases now are similar to what they were last year at the end of November.
"Normally we start to see RSV cases begin to rise at the very beginning of November," Dr. Romano explained. "They peak around late December, and then go down by mid-February. So the fact that we're seeing this many cases so quickly is very concerning and very alarming."
RELATED: RSV cases surging in children as virus spreads earlier, faster this year
As for why, doctors said we might need to look at the past two pandemic years.
"We haven't had a lot of flu over the last two seasons, and even RSV has been not in its typical pattern," said Dr. Jennifer Shuford, interim commissioner for the Texas Department of State Health Services. "And so there's a lot of people who haven't been exposed naturally to influenza or RSV over the last couple of years."
While COVID-19 cases are low right now, doctors are urging people to get vaccinated for flu and COVID-19 if they can, especially with it being too early to know what these next weeks and months will look like.
"So we're quite concerned about the capacity of our health care system to handle all the flu and RSV, plus the COVID-19 that we could see surge here soon," Dr. Shuford said.
So to help yourself and others, doctors said children and adults should stay home from work and school if they show symptoms.
"You know, if they're not running a fever, it used to be they could go to school. But now, with all of the different germs circulating, that's something that we really need to watch out for, is if your kid is sick, please keep them home," Dr. Romano added.
Dr. Romano said if your child has mild symptoms and just needs a test, call your pediatrician, because those emergency and urgent care locations are swamped right now.