Hospitals struggle with influx of kids with respiratory illnesses

To start the new year, 3-month-old Reece Prater is hospitalized with RSV more than 300 miles from home at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, because it was the closest pediatric intensive care bed available.

His mother, Marni Prater, told CBS News that Reece was on oxygen "almost immediately" after getting to the hospital.

"His breathing was quickly getting worse and heavier," she said.

Back home in Amarillo, Reece's 3-year-old brother is sick with the flu. Cases like theirs are overwhelming children's hospitals.

Dr. Laura Romano, a hospitalist at Cook Children's Medical Center, told CBS News that in one 24-hour period, the hospital's emergency rooms and urgent care centers had seen "over 600 kids."

"That's a kid being checked in every two minutes to be seen by a provider," she said.

It's not just Texas seeing this type of patient load. Across the country, there have been more than 73,000 flu hospitalizations and more than 45,000 deaths — including 20 children — so far during the 2023/2024 flu season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Fewer than 50% of children in the U.S. have received this year's flu vaccine, the lowest rate in five years.

And while RSV infections are dropping, flu and COVID-19 cases continue to rise.

Romano said Cook Children's Medical Center has had to open a second unit that was being renovated to deal with the influx of patients.

"Sometimes we have kids who are waiting to go to our ICUs who are waiting in the emergency room because we do not have any beds available," she said.

With kids heading back to school after the holiday break, hospitals are bracing for another wave of pediatric patients.

As for Reece, his mother said she was feeling some relief after getting good news from the doctor.

"She said he's been off oxygen for 40 minutes and he's doing really well," Marni Prater said.