MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Respiratory cases are beginning to increase across the state, and the Eastern Panhandle is no exception
WVU Medicine providers are reporting a surge in respiratory illnesses across our community, with cases of Flu, RSV, and COVID-19 coming through Doctor Ben Deuell is an emergency room physician at Berkeley Medical Center was a guest Friday on Panhandle Live, where he talked about what respiratory illnesses they are seeing.
“We’re seeing a surge in our respiratory illnesses that includes Influenza A, but also other viruses such as the common RSV that we see as well as a little bit of COVID-19.”
“Mostly what we’re seeing from a viral standpoint is our influenza patients that are presenting to our outpatient clinics, our urgent cares and our emergency departments,” he said.
As to whether some reports that this year’s crop of respiratory illness may make folks sicker than normal,
“Our variant this year is the the H3-N-2, and one of these subclades that we call which is the fancy term for what these these viruses are, is one of the viruses that seasonally is more severe than it has been in the past,” Dr. Deuell said.
“Every 10-15 years we will see a surge that has increased illness, severity, increased time that you are sick, and then sometimes the need for increased presentations to our healthcare facilities,” he said.
“It is not an unheard of uncommon thing to have a surge like this with this H3N2 variant. And and it is, expected to have somewhat of a faster surge this year than we were expecting. So we’re seeing it faster and we’re seeing one of the more severe. variants
Asked at what point someone who has been trying to tend to respiratory symptoms with over the counter care should see a physician, Dr. Deuell said, “I think that’s a great question. This year in addition to the the influenza that we could test positive for, we’re also seeing generalized influenza like illness viruses that are just lasting two to three weeks in our population and it is extremely frustrating” for those affected.
“You are correct taking over the counter medications, hydrating as best as possible is important. And then if you get to the point where you are having fatigue, a relentless cough, feeling short of breath, or just generally worried, those are good reasons to go have an evaluation, let’s say, in urgent care,” he said.
“If you notice that your work of breathing is becoming concerning to you, or you have chest pain, or you feel like your heart rate has been more elevated than it should be, or you’re getting dizzy or confused or are one of our high risk populations, we certainly welcome you to the emergency department to be evaluated because there are times when these viral illnesses can turn into a pneumonia or some other severe illness that requires a healthcare facility to evaluate you and treat you”
“This year we are seeing also these prolonged viral illnesses that are really just taking its toll on people and they’re getting frustrated at the length of time it’s lasting to get better.”
As to who falls under “high risk” categories when it comes to respiratory illness, Dr. Deuell said, “Young children less than two over the age of 65, pregnant, if you’re on dialysis, if you’re immunocompromised, such as being on chemotherapy, if you live in a long term care facility, those are the the high risk populations,” Deuell said. “If you have underlying asthma or COPD, those are the the people that we may initiate treatment on with Tamiflu if they meet criteria or just want to to have someone lay eyes on from an outpatient family doctor, urgent care or E.D.”
As to how WVU Medicine East and Berkeley Medical Center in particular is dealing with the volume of patients now and in the future, as expansion plans are underway, he said, “We have implemented some absolutely incredible new workflows to be able to get to patients and see them in a timely manner. And with our increasing volumes at almost record highs for the last several years on a daily basis, we are still getting emergency medicine physicians and and advanced practice providers in front of patients to see them regardless of what our capacity looks like within our hospital walls.”
“We have been able to really find some new dynamic ways to see patients and make sure that they’re at least seeing healthcare providers. And we’re expanding that to to all of our regional hospitals as well,” he said, “We are so excited for the the growth at (WVU Medicine East) both structurally and with the providers and and service lines we’re going to be able to provide.”
As to staying well and out of the doctor’s office, “Number one, is if you’re sick, stay home to avoid contact with others. Practice good hygiene. If you need to go out and you don’t feel well, wear a mask, wash your hands frequently,” he said. “covering of your mouth and nose when you’re coughing into your elbow instead of just into your hands where it can obviously shed some virus.”
“If you’re eligible, we still recommend that you get vaccinated, we know that that decreases the length of time of illness and the severity of illness.”
“By no means if you are healthy should you avoid going to anything that you enjoy to do. Just everybody just needs to be vigilant to be aware, to try to keep our our friends and our community healthy.”
