The saturation of pediatric hospitals is also observed abroad. As in Quebec, Germany, France and the United States are experiencing overcrowding in their emergency services for children. In question, what many already call the “triple epidemic”.
“Extreme emergency room traffic”. These are the first words displayed on the website of the Saint-Justine hospital in Montreal on Friday.
This congestion is observed elsewhere than in Quebec. The viruses responsible for the increase in admissions are spreading across physical borders. Among them, the well-known coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, but also the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and the influenza virus.
United States
On the other side of the border, COVID-19, influenza and RSV infection are also responsible for a sharp increase in hospital attendance. Mark Wietecha, head of the Children’s Hospital Association, and Mark Del Monte, who heads the American Academy of Pediatrics, are calling on President Joe Biden and Health Secretary Xavier Beccera to declare a state of emergency . “Across the country, more than three-quarters of children’s hospital beds are occupied,” they pointed out.
This assessment seems confirmed by the death last Tuesday of five Californian children, according to the declaration of the California Department of Public Health relayed by the New York Times. They had caught both RSV and the flu virus.
Germany
Across the Atlantic, a “catastrophic situation” also affects Germany, according to the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Medical Emergencies (DIVI). Choices must be made about the allocation of intensive care beds and children must be moved from hospital to hospital.
“If the predictions are correct, things should get worse in the days and weeks to come,” said Sebastian Brenner, head of pediatric intensive care at Dresden University Hospital, interviewed by the German channel n-tv.
In response, the Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach, announced Thursday the investment of 600 million additional euros in pediatric services over the next two years, according to the Associated Press.
France
In France as in Quebec, bronchiolitis (infection of the bronchioles) due to RSV is wreaking havoc. This respiratory disease particularly affects children, especially newborns. The weekly bulletin of Public Health France (APF) lists no less than 8,647 emergency room admissions for bronchiolitis during the week of November 21 to 27.
Among these admissions, 3007 led to hospitalizations, which is 1029 hospitalizations more than during the week of October 24 to 30.
To cope, the French Ministry of Health announced three weeks ago the use of an emergency plan called ORSAN, serving to facilitate the coordination of health services. It had already been triggered in 2020 for the management of COVID-19.
France also deplores an increase in cases of COVID-19 and influenza. The number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 was 48,629 on Friday, representing a 46% increase from the previous week, according to Agence France-Presse. If the virus is rarely serious in children, this increase should still contribute to overcrowding hospitals. “It is not very surprising, because this period of the year is the most favorable to the transmission of viruses”, explained to AFP Pascal Crépey, epidemiologist at the School of Advanced Studies in Public Health. This transmission would have started earlier than usual, according to Public Health France, which indicates in its report for the week of November 21 to 27 “an early increase in influenza indicators”.