Flu cases likely to peak during Christmas week, says HSE

The Health Service Executive (HSE) has said that flu cases are likely to peak during Christmas week. It is expected that there will be between 800 to 1,100 people with flu in hospital on any one day at the height of flu According to a statement from the HSE as of 16 December, there were 634 people in hospital with the flu, with modelling indicating that the flu outbreak will peak on Christmas week. It is expected that there will be between 800 to 1,100 people with flu in hospital on any one day at the height of flu. An emergency doctor working at Cork University Hospital said there has been a steady stream of patients of all ages with flu-like symptoms, alongside their regular emergency work, putting pressure on the whole hospital system. Dr Seán Underwood, who has just completed a 24-hour shift, told RTÉ's This Week that: "A lot of people are really unwell with fever, severe aches, cough and breathlessness." We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preferences He added that admissions have climbed as the flu hit earlier this year than in previous years. "In vulnerable groups it can indeed be life-threatening. 62 admissions this year to ICU and 17 deaths so far," he said. He said in terms of preparedness, there were some improvements from previous years. "We're very thankful for our GP colleagues, for instance, extending their opening hours. We're very thankful for the public for increasing their levels of vaccination." Dr Underwood said vaccination levels were up on previous years and Ireland was doing well compared to some European neighbours. He said there had been an improvement too, in the numbers of patients discharged. "We doubled our consultant presence over the weekends and all of this is obviously solid work that we've done to prepare ourselves for this," he said. However, he added that there was still a need for additional beds. Coming up to the Christmas celebrations, he said, children have the highest transmissible rates at a time when they were also meeting their elderly grandparents. "It is a worry for how we're going to cope after Christmas," he said. Dr Underwood said as an emergency department CUH was seeing two groups: those who were miserable with the flu but could be managed at home with rest, fluids and over the counter medicines like paracetamol, "and then there's higher risk groups". "Those older adults, people with chronic illnesses or immunosuppression who can deteriorate quickly with low oxygen levels and low blood pressure." He said this was the group that needed to be looked out for. Visiting restrictions have also been in place in hospitals for the past two weeks. As well as protecting vulnerable patients, Dr Underwood said this also helped stem the high numbers of staff being exposed...

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