NM SHARES FLU MISERY
Recent rise in flu cases across U.S. is hitting New Mexico and lengthening wait times at a Santa Fe hospital.
SANTA FE — Santa Fe and New Mexico are not immune to the influx of influenza cases that has swept the nation.
On Wednesday, Santa Fe’s Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center issued a news release stating that it has seen 124 confirmed cases of the flu in the past 30 days, and that the hospital and its emergency department were operating at full capacity.
As a result, getting care may take longer. “With this surge of patients in our Emergency Department, patient wait times may be much longer than normal, especially for routine care like flu evaluations,” the release said.
Early Wednesday morning, Christus St. Vincent was not accepting transfer patients from other hospitals or health care facilities because of the patient load, according to spokesman Arturo Delgado.
Children under the age of 12 are not being allowed to visit
patients during the flu season and visitors experiencing flu-like symptoms are being asked not to enter the hospital unless they are seeking care.
“This year’s flu hasn’t been as responsive to vaccines as in the past,” said Delgado, who added that seems to be the case all over the country and in the United Kingdom.
On Wednesday, the British newspaper Metro reported that flu cases have increased by 48 percent in the past seven days and are higher than previous years, including 10 times higher than 2015.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, influenza activity increased sharply in the United States during the week of Dec. 17-23, the most recent week for which data is available. Statistics show nearly nine of every 100,000 hospitalizations nationwide during that week were due to confirmed flu cases. The CDC lists New Mexico as one of 21 states with “high” influenza-like illness activity levels and one of 36 states where flu is “widespread.”
Doyle Boykin, interim hospital administrator with Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, said there has been an influx of flu cases there, as well. “We have seen an increase in influenza (flu) cases at the three Albuquerque metro Presbyterian hospitals over the past few weeks,” he said.
“With flu season underway, Presbyterian is taking additional precautions to keep our patients and visitors healthy. We encourage the community to please remember to wash your hands frequently, cover your mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing, and stay home when ill to help prevent the flu from spreading.”