CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The number of flu cases across the country is at its highest level since 2009, and the virus’s impact is also hitting home.
Emergency rooms and hospitals in Charlotte are also feeling the spike in flu cases.
A Novant Health doctor says the high number of cases is very likely impacting how long everyone must wait in the emergency room, and COVID could be making a comeback.
Like many other hospitals, flu cases are surging at Novant Health’s Charlotte facilities.
“I was even working in the hospital over this past weekend, and I had a doctor tell me it seems like everybody is admitted for the flu right now,” said Dr. Cramer McCullen, a family medicine doctor at Midtown Family Medicine.
McCullen says over the weekend, one out of every three of his patients in the hospital had flu or complications from the respiratory virus.
“I think it definitely overwhelms the emergency department with cases,” said McCullen.
He says the severity of the flu is also worse this year and even patients who are otherwise healthy are having complications like pneumonia.
That’s putting more people in the hospital than in years past, and it’s having an impact on people who visit the emergency room for other issues as well.
“A really high percentage that are probably leading to longer wait times in the emergency department, longer holdovers of patients in the hospital during the season who are requiring treatment,” said McCullen.
Alicia Allman is a physician assistant at the StarMed health clinic.
“We have seen more flu than anything else,” said Allman.
She’s barely seen any COVID cases recently, though.
“They may be just assuming it’s a cold and do what they can with over-the-counter medications and not seeking any tests at all,” said Allman.
Queen City News found data from the state that shows the amount of COVID in wastewater increased in most all of the Charlotte monitoring locations and more than doubled in west Charlotte in recent weeks.
“What we see in the wastewater may be lagging behind, so did we hit our peak? Maybe. But COVID is harder to predict a peak since it doesn’t seem to be quite as seasonal as flu,” said Allman.
Back to what may be driving the severity of these flu cases, both health professionals say some of it could be vaccine fatigue: Maybe fewer people got their flu shots this year, perhaps focusing more on COVID vaccines, or not getting either.
