Hospitals face strains amid rise of flu and respiratory illnesses in NC

North Carolina health care workers are facing strains due to the exponential rise in cases of respiratory illness and the earlier-than-usual start of the flu season this year.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, North Carolina is facing very high levels of influenza-like illnesses. 

This year, the number of positive flu tests are already higher than the total in the last five years, Emily Sickbert-Bennett, the director of infection prevention at UNC Hospitals, said. 

“We are seeing quite a few more cases, so definitely more for people to consider getting some vaccines,” Sickbert-Bennett said. 

She also explained that in order for the flu season to slow down or stop during the winter, as many people as possible would need to get vaccinated.

“One important principle of epidemiology is that when viruses run out of susceptible people, they can't continue to transmit them,” Sickbert-Bennett said. “That's the principle behind getting large populations vaccinated.”

In addition to the flu, she said hospitals have been seeing many children presenting symptoms of respiratory syncytial virus. While RSV is most common in children, Sickbert-Bennett also said UNC Hospitals has also seen cases of hospitalized adults in the state with the virus this year.

According to Dr. David Weber, a professor of medicine, pediatrics and epidemiology at UNC, UNC Hospitals had about 200 positive RSV tests last week.

“We've been seeing RSV for about six to eight weeks, at a substantially high level, more than we've seen in the past,” Weber said. 

He said the number of hospitalizations are rising so rapidly, that sometime this week, UNC Hospitals will open up additional pediatric beds to treat children with respiratory illnesses. 

Weber recommends that if anyone starts getting sick, they should call their healthcare provider and get tested immediately in order to prevent more hospitalizations.  

Some symptoms he said to watch out for that warrant immediate hospitalization include substantial trouble breathing, inability to eat or drink, shortness of breath, chest pains or turning blue. 

Sickbert-Bennett noted that the practices hospitals put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic will be valuable as they prepare for the winter months. 

“A lot of things that we've put in place for managing COVID patients have been good practices that we can use during other busy respiratory seasons,” she said. 

Michelle Camarena, the director of nursing and performance improvement at UNC Campus Health Services, said the University has also seen a clear increase in flu and flu-like illnesses among students in the past few weeks. 

“I think the only thing different this year is how early in the season we're seeing the positive cases,” she said. “That's not completely unheard of, but it's unusual, for sure, to see cases increase in late October, early November.”

Camarena said many of the students coming in to seek medical aid present the usual flu or flu-like symptoms.

“It is typically a fever, and or cough, and that's actually the criteria that we use when we measure what constitutes ILI, or influenza-like illness,” she said. “Not everybody has those symptoms, but the kind of classic things for flu are a fever, sore throat and cough.”

Amy Sauls, the director of pharmacy and professional services at Campus Health, said the most important step for college students to take to protect themselves is to get vaccinated.

“That’s the best protection we have and (vaccines) are available at both of our campus pharmacies on a walk-in basis — nine to five, Monday through Friday — and available at our student store pharmacy on Saturday,” Sauls said. 

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