RSV Rates Spike, Leaving Pediatric Hospitals at Capacity

RSV — short for a respiratory syncytial virus — is a respiratory virus common in pediatric patients. According to the CDC, the virus is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children under one. In the 2020–2021 RSV season, there was a drop in RSV-related hospitalization rates compared to previous seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing, and isolation protocols. In the 2022–2023 season, the RSV-related hospitalization rate was 53% greater than the preceding year.

The CDC has been monitoring the cumulative hospitalization rates as well as the weekly and monthly rates. In the 2022–2023 season, the cumulative hospitalization rate per 100,00 individuals was 2.9. Comparatively, the 2021–2022 rate was 1.9, the 2020–2021 rate was 0, and the 2019–2020 and 2018–2019 rates were 0.3.

Michael Koster, MD, director of pediatric infectious diseases at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, told NBC News that “everywhere is overcrowded, overrun, and understaffed, and having a really difficult time dealing with both unprecedented numbers of cases but also an off-season timing.”

Symptoms of RSV may include a runny nose, appetite changes, coughing, sneezing, fever, and wheezing. These symptoms will appear 4–6 days after infection. For most patients, the symptoms will resolve themselves within two weeks. However, the CDC recommends fever and pain reducers, such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen, increasing fluid intake, and consulting a healthcare professional with additional concerns to manage the symptoms.

Many healthcare professionals call this spike the start of the recently coined ‘tripledemic.’ This term refers to the increased COVID, flu, and RSV transmission rates that are rising concurrently. As these rates continue to increase, hospitals are struggling to keep up.

“Inpatient pediatric bed capacity is a huge issue right now in the metro Boston area, and actually even across the entire Northeast,” said Erin Beaumont of Cambridge Health Alliance to GBH News. “Because the beds are all full, we're having to sometimes transfer kids across city lines, sometimes to other parts of the state. Even in very extreme circumstances, we've had to transfer kids outside of the state, too. So, it's a huge issue we're dealing with.”

As the rates continue to increase, hospitals and healthcare professionals are encouraged to prepare for the season to progress. Patients are advised to vaccinate against COVID and influenza to minimize infection. Despite the already high rates straining the healthcare systems, professionals anticipate more to come. If previous years are any indication, the rise in RSV rates could continue into March 2023.