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Source: https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-...nprecedented-surge-in-other-viruses-1.5580417
Quebec kids' hospitals packed, not with COVID-19 but 'unprecedented' surge in other viruses
Selena Ross
CTVNewsMontreal.ca Digital Reporter
Published Friday, September 10, 2021 12:52PM EDT Last Updated Friday, September 10, 2021 1:39PM EDT
MONTREAL -- Any Montrealer who’s gotten in the habit of checking hospital statistics has probably been alarmed if they looked them up recently, especially if they have kids.
Quebec schools are coping with a surge of COVID-19 cases due to the more-transmissible Delta variant. Meanwhile, the stats showed, the emergency room of the Montreal Children’s Hospital was over 150 per cent capacity this week.
Parents wondered if this summer’s warnings had come true: a big uptick in severe Delta cases among kids.
No, doctors say, Montreal kids aren’t in the ER with coronavirus. But some of the overcrowding is still related to the pandemic, and it’s still serious, with an extraordinary spike in viruses that normally appear in winter circulating now among children.
“Honestly, what we’re seeing now has never been documented before,” said Montreal pediatric epidemiologist Jesse Papenburg.
One virus that can cause respiratory infections is spreading hugely, whereas it’s normally unheard-of to see it before November. There were also strange summer outbreaks of croup and other kids’ illnesses.
The Children’s ER officially has only 12 stretchers, but by Wednesday morning, “we had 18 patients on stretchers,” wrote hospital spokesperson Christine Bouthillier.
“We are seeing many, many more patients than we usually do at this time of year,” said the head of emergency care at the Children’s Hospital, Dr. Laurie Plotnick, confirming that out of-season viruses are helping account for the trend...
Quebec kids' hospitals packed, not with COVID-19 but 'unprecedented' surge in other viruses
Selena Ross
CTVNewsMontreal.ca Digital Reporter
Published Friday, September 10, 2021 12:52PM EDT Last Updated Friday, September 10, 2021 1:39PM EDT
MONTREAL -- Any Montrealer who’s gotten in the habit of checking hospital statistics has probably been alarmed if they looked them up recently, especially if they have kids.
Quebec schools are coping with a surge of COVID-19 cases due to the more-transmissible Delta variant. Meanwhile, the stats showed, the emergency room of the Montreal Children’s Hospital was over 150 per cent capacity this week.
Parents wondered if this summer’s warnings had come true: a big uptick in severe Delta cases among kids.
No, doctors say, Montreal kids aren’t in the ER with coronavirus. But some of the overcrowding is still related to the pandemic, and it’s still serious, with an extraordinary spike in viruses that normally appear in winter circulating now among children.
“Honestly, what we’re seeing now has never been documented before,” said Montreal pediatric epidemiologist Jesse Papenburg.
One virus that can cause respiratory infections is spreading hugely, whereas it’s normally unheard-of to see it before November. There were also strange summer outbreaks of croup and other kids’ illnesses.
The Children’s ER officially has only 12 stretchers, but by Wednesday morning, “we had 18 patients on stretchers,” wrote hospital spokesperson Christine Bouthillier.
“We are seeing many, many more patients than we usually do at this time of year,” said the head of emergency care at the Children’s Hospital, Dr. Laurie Plotnick, confirming that out of-season viruses are helping account for the trend...