‘We’ve Never Had So Many Patients’: Calif. Hospitals Getting Creative To Accommodate People With Flu
One hospital has set up a tent to handle the boon of patients, while others have adjusted their fast-track triage system to help people seeking help for the flu.
Orange County Register:
Southern California Hospitals Grapple With Flu Patients — And One Has Set Up A Tent
Southern California emergency rooms are seeing a surge of flu patients, and at least one hospital has set up an outdoor triage tent to handle the overflow of people with the flu or other illnesses. ...Other hospitals across the region, while not erecting tents, have been forced to take other steps to deal with the patient boom. (Molina, Barnes and Tompkins, 1/18)
San Francisco Chronicle:
As Flu Cases Surge, Bay Area Hospitals Work Overtime
Across the Bay Area, hospitals and medical clinics are calling on additional physicians, nurses and medical staff to work extra shifts — some to take the place of workers who have fallen ill themselves — postponing the addition of elective surgeries to make room for flu patients, and imposing temporary restrictions on visitors to help prevent the spread of influenza to patients already in the hospital. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center last week began restricting children under the age of 14 from visiting to minimize the spread of the flu. (Ho, 1/18)
Mercury News:
Flu May Be Spread Just By Breathing, New Study Says
Until now, most people thought you caught the flu after being exposed to droplets from an infected person’s coughs or sneezes, or by touching contaminated surfaces. But a study released Thursday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that we may pass the flu to others just by breathing. The study — which included researchers who are now working at San Jose State University and UC Berkeley — offers new evidence on the importance of the flu’s airborne qualities and how it can easily be transmitted to others. Researchers found large quantities of infectious viruses in the breath exhaled by those suffering from the flu. (Seipel, 1/18)
The Mercury News:
Flu Map: Intensity Of Epidemic, State By State
A map tracking outpatient visits shows the levels of flu-like illness sweeping across the United States in the past 10 weeks. (Steade, 1/18)
The New York Times:
Questions And Answers About This Year’s Flu Season
At the moment, the 2017-2018 flu season is considered “moderately severe.” Large numbers of Americans have fallen ill, and every state except Hawaii has reported widespread flu activity. But some regions have been hit harder than others. More important, the number of people hospitalized or dying from flu nationwide is not unusually high. This season is closely paralleling the 2014-2015 season, which was dominated by the same H3N2 flu strain and was also “moderately severe.” (McNeil, 1/18)