The impact of COVID-19, the RSV outbreak, and the infectious flu on surrounding communities is only exacerbating the daily stresses placed on the local healthcare system. Your healthcare providers understand that life happens outside of business hours, and childcare coverage means you can’t always make appointments on time or need to reschedule.
Across the tristate and at local hospitals, everyone is seeing a significant increase in the number of people needing immediate care without a primary care provider or medical appointment. Urgent care providers still care for community members with heart attacks, broken limbs, car accidents, and cancer diagnoses while the pandemic and outbreaks rage on.
Respiratory viruses, which cause common colds and the flu, typically circulate in colder months. A string of endless colds can be annoying and possibly disruptive to childcare, school, and work, as these viruses often cause symptoms like runny noses and coughs. What’s more, kids can pass their infections on to very young or elderly family members. Influenza and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) are the most serious seasonal respiratory viruses. The CDC estimates that RSV typically puts about 58,000 children under age 5 in the hospital each year and is the most common cause of pneumonia in children under a year old. It also hospitalizes more than 177,000 adults 65 and older.
If you don’t have a primary care provider, like many Americans, relying on urgent care can feel like your only option to be seen by a provider. However, there’s another way.
To read this and other premium articles in their entirety, pickup the January 2023 issue of Julien’s Journal magazine. Click to subscribe for convenient delivery by mail, or call (563) 557-1914. Single issues are also available in print at area newsstands and digitally via the Issuu platform.
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