Spike in emergency room visits and outbreaks as flu season hits Quinte region

Since the start of flu season, Belleville General Hospital and other local hospitals have seen a jump of more than 370 people a day  visiting for flu symptoms. Photo by Matthew Murray, QNet News.

By Matthew Murray

BELLEVILLE – Emergency rooms in the area are under pressure from a surging number of patients coming in with flu symptoms, Quinte Health Care says.

Visits to the emergency rooms at Belleville General, Trenton Memorial and Prince Edward Memorial hospitals and North Hastings Hospital in Bancroft  have jumped by 32 per cent since the start of this flu season, QHC said last week.

In a press release jointly issues with Hastings Prince Edward Public Health and the Queen’s Family Health Team, the QHC said that more than 370 patients are showing up each day in the ERs, compared to the normal 290 per day.

The rise has led Quinte Health Care to ask only patients with severe symptom to visit the emergency room. Those with mild symptoms should stay home and rest, it says. People with more moderate symptoms are asked to see their doctor before going to the hospital.

Fever, dry cough, headaches, sore throat and nausea are some of the main symptoms of the flu, Dr. Robert Webster of the Queen’s Family Health Team says in the press release. Flu symptoms usually last between one and two weeks, but the severity depends on the virus type.

“Some are relatively mild, where within a few days you may be able to kick the symptoms,” Webster said. “But the current strain that we have this year is a much more aggressive strain.”

The H3N2 virus, also known as Influenza A virus, is the most common virus being spread in the community this year, said Bill Sherlock of Hastings Prince Edward Public Health.

This year’s vaccine is a good match for the the local H3 strain well, Sherlock added, but it’s too early for public health to determine how effective the flu shot is at dealing with the virus this flu season. 

“The vaccine really ranges in effectiveness from year to year,” Sherlock said. “Generally speaking it’s around 40 to 60 per cent (effective) depending on how well it’s matched.”

Around 47,000 flu shots were distributed throughout the community this year, he said. The amount of people who got the flu shot this year is unknown, but a little over 11,000 vaccines were given to residents by public health and local pharmacies, Sherlock said. 

Longer ER wait times aren’t the only trouble flu season has brought to Belleville, however.

Five local long-term care homes such as Hastings Manor are dealing with outbreaks of the H3 flu virus this year, Sherlock said. 

“Last year we had three outbreaks…the year before that we were up to around 15, so it does fluctuate from year to year,” he said.

Hastings Manor says it is dealing with the outbreak by asking people to not visit with more than one patient at a time and to avoid coming to the manor during meals.

Antibiotics won’t help because flu is a viral illness, public health says adding that you have to get better on your own. The best way to do that is to stay home, rest and stay hydrated.