By Pepper Fisher

PORT ANGELES – This flu season is turning out to be much more hazardous than most, thanks to the triple threat of influenza A, the RSV respiratory virus and, of course, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which doesn’t seem to care that we’re all sick of it.

But just like during the worst phases of the pandemic, our western Washington healthcare system is severely strained right now.

That has medical professionals pleading with the public to take the necessary steps to keep your family and yourselves strong and healthy.

County Public Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry says, with hospitals coming off years of strain from the pandemic, they’re not in the best position to handle today’s crisis, particularly in pediatrics.

“Seattle Children’s and Mary Bridge, where kids in our community would go if they were critically ill, are both overwhelmed with caring for very sick kids. So, we’re seeing the need to take care of more sick kids locally, where we just don’t have the amount of pediatric care available. We’re seeing our pediatric clinic phone lines overwhelmed, our ERs and our hospitals strained under the pressure, and we’re even starting to run short of some of the medications that we would use to take care of very sick kids. So, it’s a really serious time where we all need to work together to get through this.”

The biggest issue now is with RSV in kids. Dr. Berry says RSV is not new. It’s always lurked around during flu season, but this year it’s hitting us especially hard. In healthy adults and kids, RSV feels like a cold. But for many kids 2 and under, it can be severe. However, that doesn’t mean we should automatically rush them to a hospital.

Dr. Berry has some advice for concerned parents.

“The first, most important thing is to keep them well hydrated. So, push fluids for them, keep their fever down if you can. So, you want to make sure fevers in kids always stay below 104, and treating a fever can really help them feel a lot better, and drink more of that water. If you have a kid under two, they generally can’t blow their own nose and that can really affect their breathing. So you actually want to suck the boogers out of their nose if you’re seeing them struggle to breathe. One of those bulb suction devices can really help a lot there. Using a humidifier also really goes a long way to help your kid breathe better,”

But when do you know that it’s time to see a doctor for your sick child?

“But if you’re seeing that your child has a fever over 104 that won’t come down with Tylenol, if they’re having difficulty breathing that isn’t getting better when you suck out their nose, or if they’re getting seriously dehydrated, they’re not making wet diapers, they’re not taking water and they’re starting to get lethargic, those are all times where you need to seek medical care and call ahead to your doctor or the ER. Or if, you know, if things are getting serious and you can’t call ahead, you can always just come in. Our ERs are strained, but we are always happy to take care of very, severely ill kids. But we want to make sure parents have the tools available to take care of kids at home who maybe don’t have to spend time in the ER right now.”

And remember, getting vaccinated and following the same protocols while out in public that we learned so well during the pandemic are still the best things we can do to keep our families and ourselves healthy this “triple threat” season.