PEORIA, Ill. — While national leaders with the Children’s Hospital Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have pleaded for emergency government assistance due to a spike in respiratory disease among children, it is of slightly less concern to one top official in central Illinois, at least for now.
Right now, CDC data shows that infants 6 months and younger are getting hospitalized with RSV at seven times the rate observed before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2018.
“At this point, I’d say it’s a concern and central Illinois may also be in a little better position than the more densly populated areas,” says Mike Wells, President of OSF Healthcare Children’s Hospital of Illinois.
On the nationwide scale, hospitals have reported being overrun in some places, but here at home it’s been less of a problem.
Wells says there have been times where beds were not available to treat families locally, but that “we have a running inventory of beds that are available throughout the state and outside of the state.”
Wells says, particular to RSV, if your child is having very unusual trouble breathing, that’s when it’s best to call your physician and find out more.
For everyone else, Wells asks that the public be mindful of familiar measures taken to avert virus spread like hand washing and proper social distance.
