Crowded under-staffed hospitals are turning flu patients AWAY if their symptoms aren’t dire – as death toll rises…”particularly dangerous strain, H3N2″
Thirteen Allina Health hospitals in Minnesota implemented patient restrictions today that give nurses the authority to ask sick visitors to go home
The hospital will mostly turn away children under five years old to prevent the spread of the disease because they are less likely to show symptoms
Forty-nine states reported either regional or widespread flu activity last week and there have been 70 deaths across the US, according to the CDC
Experts have warned that this could be a historically bad flu season due in part to the H3N2 virus that has struck down more than 1,000 people in Australia
By Kayla Brantley and Natalie Rahhal
DailyMail.com
2 January 2018
As the US experiences one of the worst flu seasons in history, crowded and under-staffed hospitals have begun to turn patients away.
Forty-nine states reported either regional or widespread flu activity last week, excluding Delaware. There have been 70 deaths across the US, according to the CDC.
Thirteen Allina Health hospitals in Minnesota implemented patient restrictions today giving nurses the authority to ask ill visitors to go home if their symptoms are not dire and especially if they are under five years old to prevent the spread of disease.
Of the 870 patients that tested positive for the flu at Allina Health hospitals this season, 120 were admitted and the restrictions will stay in place until the flu is no longer widespread.
Hospitals have been overwhelmed with the influx of infected patients seeing an average of 10 patients a day that are admitted for flu-symptoms.
Dr Frank Rhame, an infection disease doctor with Allina Health told CBS Minnesota: ‘We say stay at home if you can.’
He added that doctors will try to keep children under five years old out of the hospital because they may not show signs of the flu but could be highly infectious.
Signs are posted throughout Allina Health’s hospitals and clinics that remind patients to wash their hands and cover their cough with boxes of face masks and hand sanitizer at each entrance.
Flu season officially begins in October but this year’s particularly dangerous strain, H3N2, has come relatively early and the season has not reached its peak yet.
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