A surge in coronavirus and flu infections in recent weeks, driven upward as more people have come into contact with one another during the holidays, has health officials in the Washington region worried about a potential strain on area hospitals.
Virginia health officials on Thursday announced the state’s first reported child death due to the influenza virus this year,as respiratory ailments steadily increase. Emergency room and urgent care visits jumped by 12 percent the week before Christmas compared to the previous week, according to state officials.
Maryland health officials on Thursday announced that the state’s hospitalization rate for respiratory ailments rose past 10 per 100,000 residents, prompting a recommendation that hospital staff wear masks around patients and that all patients who are eligible be vaccinated for coronavirus, the flu and the respiratory syncytial virus — the virus commonly known as RSV, which can be dangerous for young children, the elderly and the immunocompromised.