BUFFALO, N.Y. — Cases of pediatric respiratory illnesses are up sharply in Western New York and across the state, forcing health care providers to issue strong warnings to parents.
One of the main culprits is RSV in addition to the flu.
The New York State Department of Health is flooding the airwaves and social media with a warning for parents.
In Erie County, the Department of Health and Kaleida Health issued a joint alert Friday about the triple threat of RSV, the flu, and COVID-19 for young patients.
"Unfortunately, this is the perfect storm, so we have been successful in keeping the infection with these respiratory viruses at low levels in our community during the pandemic," Erie County health commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein said.
"You know, kids weren't exposed to other kids, and they were wearing masks, and when they were together, there was much less transmission of disease. So kids, especially young kids, don't have any prior immunity from prior exposures."
Since the start of September, more than 750 patients have been admitted to Oishei Children's Hospital with RSV. That is double the number admitted for the entire 2019-2020 respiratory season.
In the last 10 days, nearly 40 children have been admitted there with the flu.
With the emergency departments so packed, Dr. Burstein says the best advice is to call your child's doctor first if symptoms are not severe.
"Make sure that your child is pink. Not in distress breathing. Does not need to be seen in the emergency department right away. However, if they look like they're able to breathe, they're not in distress, they're pink, then I think your first stop would be to call your pediatrician's office and try to get some medical advice and some guidance," Dr. Burstein said.
And as far as COVID-19 is concerned, Dr. Burstein said they do expect the number of cases to go up with the newest variant here in our community, and she encouraged people to get their COVID boosters and flu shots.