Illinois - Flu outbreak puts Chicago-area hospitals on bypass

[Pathfinder]

Flu outbreak puts Chicago-area hospitals on bypass

Updated at 07:48 AM today
ABC7 reporters Jessica D'Onofrio and Ben Bradley

January 8, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- The flu outbreak in the Chicago area seems to be getting worse with some hospitals telling ambulances to take patients elsewhere.

Tuesday morning, at least three Chicago-area hospitals remained on bypass. Northwestern Memorial, University of Chicago and Swedish Covenant were asking ambulances to pass them by, if they could do so safely, because so many people are flooding into their emergency rooms with the flu.
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Eight local hospitals were on bypass for at least part of Monday night.
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Doctors say that 70 to 80 percent of the coughs around you are from the flu.

Influenza is so contagious, hospitals are distributing masks and isolating carriers.

"We make sure they're in their own room, separate from other patients, so it doesn't get spread from person to person," Dr. Feldman said.
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More...
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8945972

 

[Catbird]

Re: Illinois - Flu outbreak puts Chicago-area hospitals on bypass

From another article on the same subject:

"150 Illinois Flu Patients Admitted To ICU

...Illinois Department of Public Health spokeswoman Melaney Arnold says almost 150 people have been admitted to intensive care units with the flu this season and six have died.

...The most recent reports from Chicago labs that test for influenza showed 17 percent of specimens tested positive. Last year by this time, fewer than 1 percent of the tests were positive."

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Illinois - Flu outbreak puts Chicago-area hospitals on bypass

By
Ryan Jaslow /
CBS News/ January 8, 2013, 4:47 PM

Flu influx causes Chicago hospitals to turn away patients

As flu cases continue to surge around the county, some hospitals are taking extreme measures to deal with the influx of sick patients.

CBS Chicago reports that some local hospitals are turning away emergency room patients because they are flooded with patients who come in sickened by influenza.
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"We aren't seeing very sick people. We're just seeing more sick people," Mary Alice Lavin, director of infection, prevention and control with Rush University Medical Center, told CBS Chicago. "The viruses that were included in the vaccine this year are the ones that are circulating this year but studies have shown that the vaccine is only effective in 60 percent of people."
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http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162...uses-chicago-hospitals-to-turn-away-patients/