Philadelphia Health Department issues holiday safety guidance
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- In an effort to prevent a dangerous surge of infections, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health is issuing new holiday safety guidance. CBS3 spoke exclusively with Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole on Wednesday.
City Hall is decked out for the holidays, but the Grinch could be ruining festivities with Philly now experiencing a spike in respiratory infections.
"Now we're seeing a huge increase in flu and that is a vaccine-preventable illness again, affects kids affects older adults. It can lead to pneumonia. And we would really love to see that tamped down," Bettigole said.
Bettigole says low flu vaccination rates are a big part of the problem with only about 20% of residents having flu shots.
"So it's a couple of things. So vaccine, vaccination rates against influenza are lower than they have been in previous years and I think some of this is vaccine fatigue. Some of it is people who are busy not thinking about it, trying to get back to normal," Bettigole said.
CBS3 is told the situation is especially dangerous for high-risk groups and pediatric hospitals in the city are overwhelmed.
"Either our pediatric ERs right now are struggling or overburdened, and what that looks like is if you take a young child to the ER who needs to be seen for an emergency, very long waits, over 12 hours sometimes," Bettigole added. "So we're really trying to do what we can to tamp down the spread of these respiratory bugs so everybody is safer. So our pediatric hospitals can do what they need to do. And especially thinking about with the holidays coming up that things could get worse."
Three's also been an increase in COVID-19 numbers in Philadelphia and the respiratory infection RSV.
"Everybody is tired from a couple of years of the pandemic and looking forward to being with people and really, in some cases, kind of throwing caution out the windows," Bettigole said.
Inside crowded locations are prime spots for viruses to spread easily. They're especially dangerous for high-risk groups, recently there's been a big influx of kids at hospitals.
"What that looks like is if you take a young child to the ER who needs to be seen for an emergency, very long waits, over 12 hours sometimes," Bettigole said.
In an effort to prevent a dangerous surge of infections, the health department has issued holiday safety guidance.
Here are the specifics:
- Get your flu shot and COVID-19 booster as soon as possible
- Mask up in crowded indoor places
- Stay home when sick, whether or not you test positive for COVID-19
- Test for COVID-19 before gatherings, especially if you'll be around those at high risk
"Adopting some simple common sense precautions can make a big difference there and also prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed," Bettigole said.
If you have events planned throughout the holiday season, the health department suggests visiting senior loved ones prior to attending any large gatherings.