Hospital occupancy is again high, with 89% of adult medical, surgical and ICU beds in the metro. And there is even less availability for children. The Douglas County health department says only 12 children’s ICU beds are open. KETV NewsWatch 7 spoke to a pediatric hospital doctor at Children’s. She says more children with COVID-19 have been hospitalized this fall than last year. And it’s not the only virus they’re fighting. Like 2020, as the year draws to a close, the number of hospital beds is filling up. “It’s really kind of a challenging fall for us because kids weren’t vaccinated when school went back and so an average of four to six kids a day are hospitalized with COVID,” said Dr. Sharon Stoolman. Last year around Thanksgiving, Stoolman from the Children’s Hospital said a child had been hospitalized. She says that while many people are ready to put the pandemic behind them, it is still a reality. “We are currently still seeing a large number of children who are sick and dealing with COVID,” Stoolman said. And that’s not the only disease kids struggle with. Stoolman says RSV hits kids hard. She says those cases have been high since June. “It just doesn’t really stop. And so that’s hard and that we’ve had a lot of RSV early on and then it just keeps going,” said Stoolman. She says more children are coming to the hospital now and she is staying longer. “There’s a combination of more kids who’ve been sick, less than and then some of the kids, it takes longer to recover. So you know, a few more days to get off the oxygen, a few days to eat the wound healing and so yeah “We have some kids who have been here a long time,” Stoolman said. As we approach the holiday weekend, Stoolman says that while it’s good to get together with family, people are smart about it should be, to keep everyone healthy and away from the hospital.” If you are sick, stay home. If you’re not sick, find a place where you know you’re in fellowship with your friends and family and fill our buckets so we can get through this beautiful winter that we know Nebraska will deliver,” Stoolman said.
OMAHA, Neb. —
Hospital occupancy is again high, with 89% of adult medical, surgical and ICU beds in the metro. And there is even less availability for children.
The Douglas County health department says only 12 children’s ICU beds are open.
KETV NewsWatch 7 spoke to a pediatric hospital doctor at Children’s.
She says more children with COVID-19 have been hospitalized this fall than last year. And it’s not the only virus they’re fighting.
Just like in 2020, when the year comes to an end, the number of hospital beds is filling up.
“It’s really kind of a challenging fall for us because kids weren’t vaccinated when school went back and so an average of four to six kids a day are hospitalized with COVID,” said Dr. Sharon Stoolman.
Last year around Thanksgiving, Stoolman from the Children’s Hospital said a child had been hospitalized.
She says that while many people are ready to put the pandemic behind them, it is still a reality.
“We are currently still seeing a large number of children who are sick and dealing with COVID,” Stoolman said.
And that’s not the only disease kids struggle with. Stoolman says RSV hits kids hard. She says those cases have been high since June.
“It just doesn’t really stop. And so that’s hard and that we’ve had a lot of RSV early on and then it just goes on,” said Stoolman.
She says more children are now coming to the hospital and staying longer.
“There’s a combination of more kids who’ve been sick, less than and then some of the kids, it takes longer to recover. So you know, a few more days to get off the oxygen, a few days to eat the wound healing and so yeah “We have some kids who have been here a long time,” Stoolman said.
As we approach the holiday weekend, Stoolman says it’s okay to get together with family, but people need to be smart about it, to keep everyone healthy and out of the hospital.
“If you’re sick, stay home. If you’re not sick, find a place where you know you’re in community with your friends and family and fill our buckets so we can get through this beautiful winter that we know Nebraska will have.” will deliver,” Stoolman said.
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