Pediatric ICU beds hitting a critical low this week - at only 6 percent availability across the state because of the surge in RSV.
"We have seen the highest levels of ED visits for children with RSV since the pandemic, and higher than the season immediately prior to the pandemic – so these are pretty high numbers," said Dr. Jennifer Seo, Chief Medical Officer for the Chicago Department of Public Health., but doctors said parents should watch for signs of respiratory stress, if their child's nostrils are flaring while breathing, or if their skin is pulling towards their ribs.
"We are seeing a huge surge of RSV right now. We usually see RSV in the winter - and that's probably because COVID has thrown the timing off a bit," Holland said."In addition, we are seeing a larger surge than normal, because there are kids that haven't had RSV the past couple years, so their immunity is down.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra last week also emphasized the importance of getting children vaccinated against COVID-19 – given the prevalence also of RSV, influenza, and other respiratory viruses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week endorsed the bivalent COVID-19 booster shot for children 5 and older.
"We are currently experiencing a significant increase in enterovirus infections, presumably by the enterovirus D68 strain that is associated with worse respiratory illness in kids. Our positivity rate for enterovirus has ranged 28-40% over the past 4 weeks. We are also currently experiencing a significant and early surge in RSV, which can cause worse respiratory illness in infants and children with existing medical problems such as immunocompromise, heart disease, or lung disease.
"We know everyone at Comer Children's has been impacted by this surge, and we deeply appreciate the commitment, care and collaboration our teams have shown as we care for the children entrusted to us. In particular, we want to thank our Patient Care Support, Bed Access and Transfer Center nurses, along with the UCAN team, for helping us place as many patients as possible in our hospital.