Biden asked to declare emergency over RSV, flu kids hospitalizations
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Doctors are calling on the Biden administration to declare an emergency in response to an “alarming surge” of children hospitalized with respiratory syncytial virus and flu this season.
The Children’s Hospital Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics warned President Joe Biden and Health Secretary Xavier Becerra in a letter this week that “unprecedented levels” of RSV combined with increasing flu circulation are pushing some hospitals to the breaking point.
Infants 6 months and younger are getting hospitalized with RSV at 11 times the rate observed before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Flu hospitalizations are also at a decade high with children and the elderly most at risk, according to the CDC.
As respiratory viruses surge, more than three-fourths of pediatric hospital beds are occupied across the U.S., according to data from the Health and Human Services Department. Eleven states are reporting that more than 80% of beds are full, according to the data. Children’s hospitals in Arizona, the District of Columbia, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Texas and Utah are almost completely at capacity.
An emergency declaration would provide hospitals with the flexibility needed to free up bed capacity and staffing to make sure children get the care they need, Children’s Hospital Association CEO Mark Wietecha and AAP CEO Mark Del Monte told Biden and Becerra in the letter this week.
The president should declare an emergency under the Stafford Act or the National Emergencies Act, and the health secretary should declare a public health emergency, Wietecha and Del Monte wrote.
“We need emergency funding support and flexibilities along the same lines of what was provided to respond to COVID surges,” they wrote.
State emergencies
The surge in kids falling ill with respiratory viruses comes amid staffing shortages as many health care workers have switched careers or retired due to pandemic-era burnout. There also are large numbers of children being hospitalized for mental issues which is also straining capacity.
The American College of Emergency Physicians, in a letter to Biden earlier this month, warned that emergency departments are at a “breaking point” as patient volume exceeds staffed beds. Hospitals are often forced to hold patients in emergency departments because there are no inpatient beds available, which can result in long waits, diminished care and bad results for patients. ACEP described the situation as a public health emergency.
Oregon this week became the first state to declare on emergency in response to the RSV surge. Gov. Kate Brown said the declaration will support the state’s two pediatric hospitals through the deployment of emergency volunteer medical teams. Oregon’s pediatric hospitalization rate has more than tripled since late October, according to the governor’s office.
A spokesperson for the Health and Human Services Department said the…
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