PEORIA, Ill. – It’s the time of the year for respiratory illnesses in central Illinois, and OSF Healthcare says they’re seeing more people come in because of it.
“We routinely see between 600-640 patients on the inpatient side per day. Recently, we’ve been running 670, 680,” OSF President Mike Wells tells WMBD’s “The Greg and Dan Show.”
Wells says they’re also seeing more people waiting to be admitted from its emergency department and regional hospitals. And OSF’s PromptCare facilities are seeing increases of around 50-75% of check-ins than during a typical day.
Dr. Brian Curtis says the reason for the increases is due to the peak season for RSV, COVID, and the flu. Because of that, he’s advising people who may be feeling symptoms and could be affected to stay home and prevent the spread.
The Illinois Department of Public Health says respiratory illnesses are increasing overall in the past week. For the week ending January 25th, emergency department visits and hospital admissions for the flu were three times as many as RSV and COVID.
The IDPH says nearly 20% of emergency department visits were for respiratory illnesses. The increase in flu has changed the state’s activity level to High, after being lowered to Moderate earlier in January.
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