Flu outbreak 'hasn't peaked yet'
Feb. 1, 2018 - Auburn, Ala.
It has been three weeks since Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency for Alabama, but hospitals around the state are still seeing high numbers of people coming in with flu-like symptoms.
On Jan. 11, the day that Ivey issued the state of emergency, UAB hospital in Birmingham was forced to cancel all elective surgeries that would have required an overnight stay. They canceled these types of surgeries again on Jan. 12.
Other hospitals in the Birmingham area were also experiencing overcrowding, said Bob Shepard, media specialist at UAB.
“Everyone was reporting the same thing, that we were pretty much full and sort of scrambling to find places to put all of the patients that we were bringing in,” said Shepard.
UAB is the third largest public hospital in the nation, housing a total of 1,134 beds. Shepard said that although the hospital is usually 85-95 percent full, something like this doesn’t happen often.
At East Alabama Medical Center, doctors continue to see unusually high intake numbers. Out of 340 hospital beds, EAMC had up to 300 patients last week, said John Atkinson of EAMC.
“Anything over 250 is generally considered high,” he said.
Brooke Bailey, an infection prevention nurse at EAMC, said that the flu season usually runs through the end of March, with a few cases later in the spring and in the summer. She said the flu is still widespread and hasn’t peaked yet, and the flu vaccine is still important.
“Although people might’ve heard that it’s not as effective this year, it can still help decrease either the course of the flu or decrease complications,” she said.
Bailey said that although her husband got the flu vaccine, he still caught the flu around Thanksgiving, but it wasn’t bad for him. She said that those who get the vaccine may not be sick as long as those who go unvaccinated.
For those who haven’t gotten the vaccine yet, they should come in as soon as possible, said Bailey.
“People need to remember that it takes about two weeks for your body to build up those antibodies,” she said.
To prevent yourself from getting sick, Bailey said that good hand hygiene is important. She encourages people to use sanitizer wipes at the grocery store.
“I know a lot of public areas, like churches, are saying that when you’re greeting on Sunday mornings, how about just doing an elbow pump or waving your hands?” she said. “Don’t shake your hands.”
Another preventative measure is to avoid the part of the face that Bailey calls the “T-zone.”
“Don’t rub your eyes, don’t rub your nose or bite your fingernails,” she said. “Our fingers are what introduce pathogens into our system.”
Shepard said that UAB recommends people call their physicians to get an opinion before coming in to the hospital.
“If you come into the hospital and you have flu symptoms and you’re contagious, you risk spreading it to others and you also risk picking up additional viruses,” he said.
Physicians at UAB can prescribe medication over the phone, and Shepard said that other hospitals do that, too. This way, the individual can pick up medication from the drug store instead of going to the clinic first.
If a visit to the doctor’s office is necessary, Bailey recommends separation from other people. This can be done by putting on a mask or carrying a tissue when sitting in a waiting room.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that those who get sick should stay at home until the fever has been gone for at least 24 hours. The only reason to leave home would be to get medical care or other necessities.
I wrote this article and took the picture for an assignment with The Auburn Villager.
