Windsor Regional Hospital anticipates COVID, RSV and flu numbers to 'skyrocket' after holidays

COVID-19 indicators in Windsor-Essex show the virus has remained relatively stable in the community in recent weeks, according to the health unit's most recent data, but Windsor Regional Hospital's chief executive officer David Musyj says the hospital is anticipating a rise in COVID-19 after the holidays. 

"Traditionally at this time of the year, especially in the past, we kind of see a December lull," Musyj said at a WRH board meeting Thursday, adding that in previous years influenza, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) numbers "skyrocket."

RSV is a common respiratory virus on the rise among Ontario children, though Musyj said there is some concern it might begin to impact older populations. 

"RSV right now has been typically only found in pediatric patients, although there is concern now that it's going to morph itself into adult patients," he said. 

Current COVID numbers in Windsor-Essex

Currently, the number of people in critical care with COVID-19 — or suspected cases — dropped slightly at the beginning of December following a spike in suspected cases around Oct. 31, according to data from the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU).

Overall hospitalizations with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases also fell slightly in the first week of December compared to the month before. 

To date, 710 people have died due to COVID-19 in the region. 

Looking at local wastewater data, there appeared to be a spike of COVID-19 detected on Dec. 1, but overall the rates look relatively similar to November's data. 

WECHU does say that environment factors can affect sampling resulting in short-term variations, which may explain that spike. Officials were not available Thursday to comment on the data. 

Respiratory activity in Windsor-Essex is at an "elevated" level for all age groups as of Thursday, compared to last week, according to Ontario's Acute Care Enhanced Surveillance (ACES) database. 

ACES data also shows that the seven-day average for respiratory health emergency department visits has fallen for the week of Nov. 27 to Dec. 3 compared to the week before, which appears to be at its peak for the region. 

Across all ages, the number of Ontarians going to emergency departments with respiratory complaints remains well above pre-pandemic seasonal averages, according to ACES database.

Meanwhile, vaccine rates locally have continued their plateau-trend since January 2022, with third and fourth doses especially seeing little upward movement

As of the most recent weekly update, 83 per cent of Windsor-Essex residents have at least one dose of a vaccine, 81 per cent have two doses, 47 per cent have three and 19 per cent have four doses. 

Hospital capacity, RSV and flu

Local and provincial health officials warned the public that respiratory illness would be worse this season, and hospitals have been feeling the pinch. 

Following the board meeting, WRH chief nursing executive Karen Riddell said while capacity strains at hospitals appear to be easing during the lull, hospitals are still over capacity. 

"It's still very, very busy in the hospital and we're not expecting to get a big break all of a sudden. There's not gonna be a big dip in admissions," she said.  

"We're still full in our pediatric unit."

About a month ago, Windsor regional's pediatrics department was operating at 120 per cent capacity, seeing an influx of children with respiratory illnesses. New data show Windsor Regional is operating at 102 per cent capacity. Musyj said that while those numbers might look better in comparison, hospitals in Windsor region are still over capacity. 

"These numbers, you might say 'Wow, that looks really good' because we were at 115, 120 per cent, so when we're at 102, 103 that looks a lot better. Well, that's not the numbers you want to be at," he said. 

CBC News reported triple the number of children are going to Ontario emergency departments with respiratory illness, including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

"We're starting to see our numbers in the [pediatric] program inpatients kind of stabilize a bit, or actually the admission rates go down a little bit, but I can tell you that across the province, that is not what's happening," he said, adding that Hamilton and London hospitals were seeing the same decreasing trend, but have reported skyrocketing rates of pediatric patient admissions in the past 48 hours. 

Riddell said she has seen very young babies being hospitalized for RSV and influenza, and that during the holidays, people should be more aware of vulnerable members of their families. 

"Protect those around you that are the highest risk for serious illness. Most of us will get through this without any severe side effects, but our really little ones and our elderly. We really need to protect them," she said.