'Upswing' in respiratory viruses in children’s ER, doctor says

Respiratory virus numbers spiking in Winnipeg The Children’s Hospital is dealing with a spike in respiratory illnesses showing up in the emergency room. Danton Unger reports.

Cases of respiratory viruses are starting to climb in Winnipeg’s children’s emergency room.

Dr. Karen Gripp, the medical director of HSC Children’s Hospital emergency department, said RSV and influenza are the two viruses primarily hitting children right now. Shared Health confirmed that from Dec. 20 to 30, there were 27 RSV-related admissions to the children’s hospital from all regions of the province.

“What we're seeing is the upswing,” Gripp told CTV News. “We certainly are far away from the peak. We're just beginning our climb.”

She said compared to the past two years, the numbers are actually a bit lower. As of Friday, she said there are around 160 patient visits, though not all of those visits were for respiratory viruses.

To prepare for the increase, Gripp said the children’s hospital has opened an eight-bed contingency ward and increased the ICU’s baseline bed capacity. It also has the ability to add more contingency beds if needed.

“If those are full, then there are other plans as well,” she said. “Patients and parents should never have to worry that if they need help and support that it won't be there. It will, I promise them.”

She encouraged parents to take precautions to avoid a visit to the ER.

“If they haven't had their flu vaccine yet, get their flu vaccine,” she said, adding children should stay home when sick and wash their hands often.

She said some symptoms can be safely cared for at home, symptoms like fevers, coughs, a sniffly nose, and even some vomiting.

“What we worry about is the difficulty breathing,” she said. “We don't mean just fast breathing when the fever is high, we mean really wheezing and challenging to catch the breath…Those can be signs of pneumonia or more significant illness.”

She said if parents are not sure, they can call Health Links to get more information.

If they do need to visit the Children’s Hospital ER and are not considered an emergent patient, they should be prepared to wait. As of 5 p.m. Friday, the wait time on the WRHA website was sitting around 4.5 hours.