BELL COUNTY, Texas — Central Texas Children’s hospitals are filling up and doctors say it’s a sign of a new trend.
McLane Children's in Temple has been at near full capacity for several weeks with at least half of their beds are being occupied by cases of RSV, with viral infections hitting the youngest kids the hardest.
”It’s really the toddler and under age group right now, particularly with the RSV set. Just because they don’t handle it as well overall,” said Dr. Dominic Lucia, MD., chief medical officer at Mclane Children's in Temple.
Doctors are seeing a major increase in flu cases, an overlap they say is a new trend.
”They sort of didn’t overlap all that much in years past,” said Dr. Lucia. “Since really, the summer of 2021, seasonality is really a thing of the past for a lot of these viruses. They've been pretty strong at baseline in general, RSV in particular, and then they have these massive waves.”
Even though beds are filling up, they say they have the staff to handle it.
”We’ve always taken out ability to serve the community very seriously,” said Dr. Lucia. “We’re as busy as we’ve ever been but we have good people and if your kid needs us in Central Texas, we’re going to be there for them.”
In the meantime, doctors say parents should make sure their kids have their flu shot and take them to the doctor if they are having trouble breathing, severe cough or a consistent and high fever.
