Doctors hope the worst of the flu season is behind us
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - Doctors are calling it the worst flu season since the 2009 swine flu. Cases are still high, but doctors say there may be some light at the end of the tunnel.
“We’re busy across the nation,” said Dr. Matthew Gilbert, the medical director for the Deaconess Emergency Department. “I have friends all over the place and we all agree, we’re pretty swamped. But we can still take care of the emergencies that come.”
The Tri-State is no exception to the harsh season of respiratory illness.
Dr. Gilbert says they’re seeing patients for COVID, RSV, and a number of other illnesses, but the most common thing is still the flu.
“It looks like this last week, it might have peaked, at least its going down,” Dr. Gilbert said. “We don’t know if its the true top yet or not.”
With so many sick people, doctors say hospitals and emergency rooms are busy. That could lead to a longer wait in the ER, or an urgent care too.
Some Deaconess Urgent Cares showed wait times of anywhere from half an hour to nearly three hours on Thursday.
“Some people have to wait,” said Dr. Gilbert. “Unfortunately the longer you wait, it’s probably because you could wait. There’s probably somebody in front of you that needed to jump the line. It’s just how it works.”
To help cut down on wait times, doctors are encouraging people with minor symptoms to buy a flu test kit.
There’s also at home treatment options.
“If you swab yourself for the flu at home and find out you do have the flu, one option is to do telehealth. Get ahold of your primary care doctor or one of their partners and they can even prescribe you the medicine over the phone and keep you from going out in public at all,” Dr. Gilbert said.
If you’re an at risk population, or someone who is very young or old, you may want to go to an urgent care. Dr. Gilbert says sometimes prescriptions can help those people.
“If you’re super sick, that’s when you need to go to the ER,” he said. “So that means a lot of trouble breathing, confusion, dehydration, something that needs to be intervened on immediately.”
To help slow the spread of the flu, Dr. Gilbert advises people to stay home if they’re sick, and remain home until you’re fever free for 24 hours. If you do go out, he suggests you wear a mask. That helps protect others from contacting your germs.
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