AV Medical Center deals with tough flu season

LANCASTER — Like hospitals across the nation, the Antelope Valley Medical Center is feeling the effects of the rampant flu season, with the combined effects of the winter flu, RSV and COVID-19, in what some are calling a perfect storm, just as a holiday gatherings and cold weather bring more people together indoors.

Children with RSV — respiratory syncytial virus — are arriving at the hospital’s emergency department at such a rate that they have erected a tent to provide additional space to see them, AVMC CEO Ed Mirzabegian said, in a report during Wednesday’s Antelope Valley Healthcare District Board of Directors meeting.

“Flu and RSV is very predominant in every community, especially in the schools for school-age children,” he said. “We are dealing with that on a daily basis. That is almost half of our emergency room, right now.”

The hospital is also expanding its pediatric care unit from five or six beds to almost 20 beds in the Women and Infants Pavilion, by converting some existing rooms and adding the proper monitors.

“We’re working very hard to make sure we can really take care of our small patients,” Mirzabegian said.

The hospital is also starting to see some cases of RSV in adults, which is unusual, as most people have developed immunity to the virus by the time they reach adulthood, he said.

Those adult patients they are seeing are mostly those with children at home, he said.

The hospital also continues to see COVID-19 patients, although it has become more of a routine matter, with about a dozen patients being treated.

Oral medication to treat the virus is “very, very effective” and people are being encouraged to treat themselves with it if they test positive for COVID, instead of visiting the emergency room.

“These pills are one of the best things to happen in two years,” Mirzabegian said.

AVMC is not alone in seeing flu patients; Palmdale Regional Medical Center is also readying for what public health experts predict to be a strong flu season.

“Our hospital continues to closely monitor the flu situation, follow CDC guidelines and utilize strict infection prevention processes,” PRMC officials said in an emailed statement. “We remain vigilant in the detection and treatment of flu/RSV through screening, testing, treatment, isolation protocols and room disinfection processes with deep cleaning.”

PRMC officials did not disclose the number of such patients they are seeing, but said “our hospitals see and treat the patients who come to us or are transferred to us. We work tirelessly to control the spread of infections to support public health and safety through infection prevention processes and education.”