Influenza keeps Alberta Children's Hospital busy post-holidays

Alberta Children's Hospital continues to feel the pressure of a tough respiratory virus season, but health officials say they are seeing some relief from an intense December surge.

While emergency room visits are still high, demand is decreasing from last month's peak when the hospital faced a wave of children suffering from respiratory viruses, in particular RSV and influenza, according to Alberta Health Services (AHS).

"[It] was extraordinarily busy. We have seen those kinds of volumes probably similarly when we had the triple-demic in 2022," said Dr. Stephen Freedman, a professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine.

RSV peaked in late December. Freedman, who works in the emergency room at Alberta Children's Hospital, said he's been treating more kids for influenza since the end of the holiday season.

"The emergency departments are still very busy," he said.

With influenza, he's seeing kids with fevers that last five to seven days, a cough, runny nose and sore throat.

While many can be sent home to recuperate, some develop complications such as pneumonia, he said.

"We've created spaces in the halls that typically would be empty and sometimes have children wait there or assess them there as well," said Freedman, noting beds have been put in administrative spaces as well.

He said because RSV hits very young children hardest — and they often require support such as oxygen — more kids needed to be admitted to the hospital last month.

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AHS, which added extra pediatric in-patient beds in December to deal with the wave of sick kids, said it has been able to scale that back.

"Alberta Children's Hospital continues to see an increase in respiratory conditions and admissions, which aligns with seasonal trends; however, demand has decreased recently," a spokesperson for AHS said in an emailed statement.

According to AHS, it's been able to reduce the number of so-called surge beds at the children's hospital from 17 to 13. It has also closed three extra pediatric beds at the Peter Lougheed Centre in northeast Calgary.

"December and January have seen a moderate increase in visit volumes at the Alberta Children's Hospital emergency department compared to last year," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Freedman is urging parents to ensure their kids are vaccinated and to take other precautions such as frequent handwashing and keeping kids home when they're sick.

He said parents should seek medical attention if their children are lethargic, have difficulty breathing, or aren't drinking or urinating as often as they should.

According to Freedman, a University of Calgary-led surveillance network shows 24 per cent of kids in Canadian pediatric hospitals who are tested for respiratory viruses were positive for influenza during the week of Jan. 12-18.

The positivity rate for RSV was 17 per cent, and for SARS-CoV-2 it was 2.6 per cent.