Staffing Shortages Compound Woes of Hospitals as RSV Surge Worsens in the United States

RSV RSV Surge respiratory syncytial virus Dr. Jennifer Lighter Hospital staffing shortages

By Joel Brussels , Parent Herald Nov 05, 09:15 am

Photo: (Photo : SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

Pediatric units across the United States have been overrun in recent weeks by an uptick in cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a contagious infection that affects the airways and the lungs.

Dr. Jennifer Lighter, a hospital epidemiologist at NYU Langone Health, told The Cut that the seasonal illness is common. The pediatric infectious disease expert said that everyone usually gets RSV by age two before the COVID pandemic struck.

This illness consists of mild, cold-like symptoms that typically resolve in one to two weeks. RSV can be serious, however, for babies under the age of one. It can lead to more severe complications for young children, including pneumonia and bronchitis.

RSV surge has come early in the U.S. this year

RSV typically peaks in the winter, but this year's surge has come early. According to the New York Times, kids are falling seriously ill from the virus at higher rates than normal, and preliminary estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that nearly one in 500 babies under the age of six months has been hospitalized with RSV since October.

Though the reason remains unclear concerning the timing of the RSV surge, many experts believe that the social-distancing measures implemented over the last few years have prevented children from building up their immune systems against the virus.

With temperatures dropping and children returning to school largely mask-free, seasonal illness in the United States is back in full swing. The bad news for parents is that it is not just RSV that they have to deal with. According to Dr. Christopher Strother, he has seen increases in respiratory illnesses across the board.

Strother added that there are lots of colds and fevers, with the director of pediatric emergency medicine at Mount Sinai blaming rhinovirus, enterovirus, a bit of COVID, and flu as the reasons for the surge in illnesses. He said they are at mid-winter volume right now, and it is sort of one virus on top of the next, which is bad news for hospitals in the U.S.

Staffing shortages not helping hospitals in battle with RSV

According to VOX, it is scary that the surge of multiple respiratory viruses is happening all at once. The onslaught of sick kids is catching the country on its heels following shortages in healthcare staffing that began well before the COVID pandemic but have since accelerated.

Thirty percent of workers in the healthcare sector were laid off or quit during the COVID pandemic. To make matters worse, nearly one-third of nurses recently surveyed said they plan to leave their direct patient care jobs by the end of this year.

Hospitals in the U.S., as a consequence, are struggling to adequately staff up to meet the needs of the growing number of patients that are swarming their emergency rooms. That is a major problem as an RSV infection is labor-intensive to treat when it is severe.