Respiratory viruses still spiking admissions at Winnipeg's children's hospital

Respiratory viruses circulating in Manitoba are continuing to cause high numbers of critically ill pediatric patients to be admitted to the intensive care unit at Winnipeg's children's hospital.

There were 21 pediatric ICU patients in the hospital at the Health Sciences Centre as of Thursday morning, according to a news release from Shared Health.

The normal baseline capacity for the unit is nine.

The majority of those patients were infants or toddlers experiencing severe respiratory symptoms associated with Influenza A and RSV bronchiolitis.

One elective surgery was postponed this month, after HSC reduced ts pediatric surgical slate to focus on emergency surgeries.

A Shared Health spokesperson says staff are taking steps to ensure patients' elective surgeries aren't delayed.

There were 50 patients in the neonatal ICU (NICU) as of Thursday morning, which is exactly the baseline capacity. That's a slight increase from the 48 about two weeks ago.

Despite the strain on the system, patient visits to the children's emergency department are down from the record pace of November.

The department is averaging 131.5 patients per day in December, compared with 170.3 in November.

Nearly half of the pediatric patients visiting the children's ED on Wednesday — 63 of 131 — had influenza or were experiencing flu-like symptoms. The province's weekly data on RSV-related illness was not available Thursday.

Most pediatric patients attending the emergency department are being treated and then leaving, but the acuity and level of sickness of the children being brought in for care remains very high, Shared Health said.

Of the 131 patients on Wednesday, 74 were triaged as high- to mid-acuity. Those patients require greater levels of care, which slows patient flow and impacts wait times, according to the release.

Advice for parents on how to treat their sick or injured child, as well as when and where to take them for care, is available on the Shared Health website.