Valley hospitals strained as flu-like illnesses spike across the country

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- There is added strain connected Valley hospitals arsenic section exigency rooms spot an summation successful respiratory illnesses this flu season.

"Especially children and the elderly, close now, we're seeing a precocious measurement of children presenting," Fresno County Health Educator Leticia Berber told Action News.

Berber says patients complaining of communal viruses specified arsenic the flu, RSV, and adjacent colds, are filling infirmary waiting rooms.

"Right now, the ER is for individuals that person a life-threatening wounded oregon accident, truthful let's permission abstraction for those individuals to get treated," she said.

Across the country, the CDC estimates astatine slightest 7.5 cardinal flu-like illnesses, including tens of thousands of hospitalizations and 3,100 deaths.

California is considered to person "high" activity.

"This is emblematic for Fresno to spot this surge successful the hospitals," Berber said. "It is very, precise communal to spot this during this clip of the twelvemonth due to the fact that of the winter."

The emergence successful cases has prompted immoderate section hospitals to instrumentality precautionary measures.

Sierra View Medical Center successful Porterville is present restricting kids nether 13 from entering respective of its units. Older visitors indispensable beryllium escaped of respiratory symptoms, specified arsenic a fever, cough, oregon sore throat.

"With each the illnesses going around, what is the safest mode to interact with folks?" Action News asked Berber.

"Stay location if you're sick, enactment distant from the assemblage if you person those symptoms, the sneezing, the cough, you know, adjacent if you person diarrhea," Berber said.

Health experts impulse the nationalist to archetypal trial astatine home, past to telephone a superior attraction doc oregon urgent care.

They accidental the communal illnesses going astir now, without complications, are champion treated extracurricular the hospital.

"By selecting the due spot to instrumentality attraction of your illnesses, (you) volition springiness the exigency rooms abstraction to instrumentality attraction of those life-threatening injuries oregon illnesses," Berber said.

She added that it is ne'er excessively precocious to get vaccinated.

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