The Cincinnati area's hospitals saw a 107% increase in flu hospitalizations last week, with 172 cases including 25 people in intensive care. The rise in flu comes as local hospitals continued to operate at nearly 100% of capacity and as they were seeing more COVID-19 cases.
The surge is part of an unusually early flu season in Ohio, with Montgomery and Hamilton counties alone accounting for 3 of 10 cases statewide, state data released Friday showed.
The region had 25 available medical-surgical beds on Friday, according to data from the Health Collaborative, the coordinating group for the region’s 40 hospitals. That's 1% of the nearly 2,500 such beds locally.
The increase in flu activity combined with COVID-19, end-of-the-year surgeries, and respiratory illnesses from post-Thanksgiving gatherings, put enough stress on the system earlier this week to force at least three hospitals to request emergency medical services divert patients elsewhere.
Bon Secours Mercy Health’s Jewish Hospital and UC Health’s University of Cincinnati Medical Center and West Chester Hospital confirmed to The Enquirer that they had informed EMS they were “at capacity.” The diversions were a courtesy to technicians, who can then reroute patients to the next closest hospital if possible.
The hospitals did not turn down patients, however, and if a patient specifically requested to go to any of the hospitals deemed at capacity, that wish was granted. The medical center in Corryville, the region’s only adult Level 1 trauma center, continued to take trauma, burn, and stroke patients, a UC Health spokeswoman said.
Because of a number of factors, hospitals may cycle in and out of being at capacity every few hours, presenting a fluid situation.
Staff writer Brooks Sutherland contributed to this report.
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