Blank Children’s Hospital has been at or near capacity for at least six weeks, and the hospital announced it will delay elective procedures until more space becomes available. The influx of patients comes not from COVID-19 but winter respiratory viruses making an unseasonable appearance in the heart of summer. “Is it a late-season or is this an early-season?” asked Dr. Wendy Woods-Swafford, the chief medical officer at the hospital. “Or were these viruses kind of pushed off because of all the COVID-related activities with sheltering? I don’t know. But it is something we have never seen before,” she said.The most common of the viruses among pediatric patients is the respiratory syncytial virus or RSV. The same scenario of winter viruses appearing in summer is playing out across the country, confounding medical experts and leading to questions and theories about the unusual timing.Meanwhile, some surgeries and other types of appointments at Blank Children’s Hospital are on hold.”Elective procedures that will require either a 23 hour observation afterward or an admission for ongoing post-surgical care have been delayed because we are at capacity or very near capacity and have been for the last six to eight weeks,” Woods-Swafford said. The last time the hospital was at capacity was in the winter of 2019.
DES MOINES, Iowa —
Blank Children’s Hospital has been at or near capacity for at least six weeks, and the hospital announced it will delay elective procedures until more space becomes available.
The influx of patients comes not from COVID-19 but winter respiratory viruses making an unseasonable appearance in the heart of summer.
“Is it a late-season or is this an early-season?” asked Dr. Wendy Woods-Swafford, the chief medical officer at the hospital.
“Or were these viruses kind of pushed off because of all the COVID-related activities with sheltering? I don’t know. But it is something we have never seen before,” she said.
The most common of the viruses among pediatric patients is the respiratory syncytial virus or RSV.
The same scenario of winter viruses appearing in summer is playing out across the country, confounding medical experts and leading to questions and theories about the unusual timing.
Meanwhile, some surgeries and other types of appointments at Blank Children’s Hospital are on hold.
“Elective procedures that will require either a 23 hour observation afterward or an admission for ongoing post-surgical care have been delayed because we are at capacity or very near capacity and have been for the last six to eight weeks,” Woods-Swafford said.
The last time the hospital was at capacity was in the winter of 2019.