With COVID, flu and RSV surging, here’s how to help Sacramento’s overwhelmed hospitals

It’s been a long three years for everyone, and we would love to be done with COVID. But the virus is not done with us.

Hospitals are getting slammed. Again.

Though it’s hard to understand the impact and repercussions unless you’re a patient or a health worker, we are in the midst of a health care emergency.

As an emergency physician, I often encounter patients who are unaware that they have a life-threatening health condition. I can’t help but think that is what’s happening to the health care system now as three respiratory viruses surge in the community, overwhelming hospitals and other medical facilities.

Across the country and here at home, we’re experiencing a so-called tripledemic of surging cases of COVID, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. Sacramento’s hospitals are over capacity, with patients young and old occupy a dwindling supply of hospital beds.

It’s not hyperbole to call it a crisis.

Our COVID case numbers of 7,800 infections a day don’t really tell the full story because of the wide use of at-home tests, which means many cases are never reported. Wastewater analyses, which are often a more reliable measure, show that cases are once again skyrocketing and are more predictive of hospitalization rates.

On top of COVID, flu activity in the U.S. is more than 20 times higher than it was last year at this time. In fact, we saw record-shattering levels of transmission during the week of Thanksgiving, with higher-than-ever positive flu tests in one week. Meanwhile, RSV, which causes infections of the lungs and respiratory tract and hits children and older adults with preexisting conditions particularly hard, is overwhelming children’s hospitals.

Our doctors, nurses, facilities and other medical resources have been stretched to the limit for weeks. Three years of COVID have taken a toll on our communities and health care systems, which are experiencing severe worker burnout and staffing shortages. The overlapping surges of these viruses have compounded this problem, as many nurses and doctors are out sick themselves.

Setting volume records daily, hospitals are resorting to adding tents to care for patients. Entire sections of emergency rooms have turned into hospital wards because we don’t have enough beds or nurses. Ambulances are stuck waiting to drop off sick patients because there are no beds for them. Patients are being treated in emergency departments for days before they are admitted to hospitals or transferred to pediatric hospitals with the necessary resources.

In my hospital’s emergency department, it’s common for over half the beds to be occupied by patients awaiting admission — a dangerous scenario since many sick patients in the waiting room need an emergency room bed. Now imagine that same problem throughout the region’s hospitals, which often can’t transfer patients to larger facilities because those, too, are over capacity, particularly in rural areas. We are even being asked to transfer sick patients to other states.

To keep your friends and loved ones safe and out of the hospital, we have some work to do as a community.

As we head into the holiday season and gather with friends and family, the physicians of California are speaking together with one voice to urge you to get your flu shot and COVID booster. It’s our best line of defense.

It’s also important to follow basic prevention measures such as frequent hand-washing, wearing a mask if showing symptoms and staying home when sick. We are always here to care for you, but if you have flu-like symptoms or test positive at home, think twice about visiting the emergency department unless it’s absolutely necessary.

As an emergency physician, I am grateful every day to serve my community and work to keep my patients safe and healthy. This winter, health care workers need everyone’s help to prevent the spread of disease and keep our families and loved ones safe.