Bronchiolitis epidemic: a national emergency plan triggered

The bronchiolitis epidemic strikes earlier and harder in the fall of 2022. At the Pediatric Emergency Department in Colmar (Bas-Rhin), the flow of entries is incessant in an already saturated unit. The final straw in many services. “Bronchiolitis comes at a time when the hospital is particularly in tension due to a lack of nursing staff with very many absences, direct consequence of the covid crisis”says Dr. Didier Chognothead of the pediatrics department at the Pasteur Hospital in Colmar.

In France, almost 7,000 children under the age of two were admitted to the emergency room in one week. The white plan was launched nationwide on Wednesday, November 9. It must make it possible to deal with an epidemic peak not seen for 10 years. Families are often worried. “You don’t expect to experience this when you hear about bronchiolitis”, testifies Audrey Sergent, mother of Charly, a month and a half, hospitalized for bronchiolitis. Before a three-day weekend, the authorities want to limit emergency room congestion by calling on city doctors.