The Salem Township Hospital Board was told Wednesday that the outbreak of respiratory viruses in the first two months of the year is among the worst ever.
Salem Township Hospital CEO James Timpe says the hospital and medical community have been extremely busy as a result.
“2015-16 was one of the worst respiratory seasons on record, and this year is matching it,” Timpe said. “We’re seeing a high volume of inpatients, a high volume of people in the emergency room and in our urgent care centers, and of course all of the primary care doctors in area are seeing a lot of sick patients. Mainly what we’re seeing is not COVID. It’s influenza, RSV, those kinds of illnesses that have been around for hundreds of years. They’re just really prominent this year and we’re not sure why.”
The board was told Wednesday between February 1st and 16th, the hospital and the rural health clinic handled 193 flu cases, 25 COVID cases and 16 RSV cases. Chief Nursing Officer Lisa Ambuehl says since February 16th it appears the numbers are starting to decline but there have been another 47 confirmed flu cases.
As a result of the high numbers, Ambuehl says employees are being asked to mask up when in clinical areas.
