Surge in Respiratory Illness Cases Leaves Children’s Hospitals Overwhelmed, Considering Calling National Guard

Toddler At Children's Hospital for Surgery on Oct. 11, 2022. Getty Images

A rise in the number of children suffering from respiratory illnesses has left some hospitals across the United States overwhelmed, according to reports.

Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford confirmed to ABC News that it is weighing up the possibility of working with the National Guard and the Federal Emergency Management Association in an attempt to deal with a slew of new cases that have left it working at a stretched capacity.

“We’re thinking of other alternatives as well as adding space, such as a mobile hospital out here on the front lawn,” Dr. John Brancanto, division head of emergency medicine at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, told ABC News. “We are seeing a very high number of patients and very high acuity.”

Separately, another hospital in the state, Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, told the outlet that it is also seeing an increase in Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) cases, which have jumped in the last from 57 to 106.

Dr. Thomas Murray, associate medical director for infection prevention at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, said that the hospital currently sees one to three children admitted with COVID-19, whereas 30 children are being admitted to the hospital with RSV each day.

Growing Concern

Murray said that the biggest concern regarding the surge in the virus is when it will peak as well as “what will happen with influenza as it has started to circulate in the area.”

“Increasing numbers of influenza along with high RSV numbers will require us to further expand our strategies to care for the children that need it,” Murray told ABC News.

Elsewhere at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, the number of patients with RSV infections coming into the hospital has doubled from mid-September to mid-October, according to Dr. Michael Koster, the director of pediatric infectious diseases at the hospital.

A string of hospitals in the Washington, D.C., area have also been operating at full capacity in recent weeks, the Washington Post reports, including Children’s National Hospital in Northwest D.C., as well as the children’s hospitals at Inova Fairfax in Northern Virginia and the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Meanwhile, NBC News reports that hospitals in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Rhode Island were buckling under the weight of an influx of RSV patients.

RSV is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms, such as a runny nose, coughing, decreased appetite, and fever but most people typically recover within a week or two, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Infants, Older Adults At Greater Risk

However, the virus can be severe in infants and older adults and is the most common cause of bronchiolitis (which causes inflammation and congestion in the small airways in the lung) and pneumonia (infection and inflammation of the lungs) in children under one in the United States.

Almost all children will have had an RSV infection by age 2, health officials say, and an estimated 58,000 children younger than 5 years old are hospitalized due to RSV infections each year.

However, very young infants, children with chronic lung disease or congenital heart disease, and those with weakened immune systems are at the greatest risk of severe illness from the virus.

There are 100 to 300 deaths among children under 5 from RSV each year in the United States, according to the CDC.

CDC data shows that cases of RSV have been on the rise, with over 4,800 antigen and PCR tests showing positive results in the week of Oct. 8. For the week of Oct. 17, 2020, there were just 21 positive tests.

There is no specific treatment for RSV infection and no vaccine, although researchers are working to develop one. Individuals with a severe response typically need urgent hospitalization.