With hospitals strained, Manitoba website aims to help parents decide when, where to take kids for care

As children's hospitals across Canada contend with a mix of flu, RSV and COVID-19 cases, Manitoba health officials are encouraging parents to use a recently launched website to help them determine when — and where — they should get medical help for their kids.

Shared Health Manitoba's Kid Care website includes information for parents on respiratory virus symptoms to watch for, and offers recommendations on when parents should take their kids to a family doctor, a walk-in clinic, or urgent or emergency care.

"[Kid Care] provides parents with advice on options where to take their sick or injured child based on their symptoms," Dr. Karen Gripp, the emergency department medical director and section head of Winnipeg Children's Hospital, said during a virtual news conference Tuesday.

Respiratory viruses such as RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and influenza A have been straining the hospital's emergency department for more than a month now.

Although the emergency department at Children's Hospital is no longer seeing a record number of sick kids, the overall number of patients is still high, Gripp said Tuesday.

On Monday, 161 children came to the hospital, she said, with just over 49 per cent being treated for influenza-like symptoms.

The average patient volume in December so far is 146 a day, down from November's average of 170 patients a day. 

In November 2021, by comparison, the children's department saw an average of 124 patients daily. 

"It's not 100 per cent clear why we see somewhat lower patient volumes over the past week, but we expect this to be short-lived," said Gripp.

While December's overalls numbers are down compared to November, the hospital is seeing higher numbers of influenza and bronchiolitis compared to last month, she said.

Gripp said she's "cautiously hopeful" that cases of RSV will peak soon, but that doesn't mean people are "out of the woods." 

The hospital is primarily seeing children under the age of five, who are more likely to have serious illness because they haven't built up immunity the way older children have, Gripp said.

Getting the flu shot, even if for people who have already had the flu, will help "curtail the spread of the virus in the coming months," she said.

She's also encouraging people to take preventative measures to stay healthy, including washing hands, staying home when ill and likely to be contagious, and cleaning high-touch surfaces.