Allegheny County reports most emergency room flu visits since 2022
It's been a very rough flu season around the nation, and doctors say Allegheny County is seeing some of the highest numbers of emergency room visits in a few years.
Dr. Brent Rau, the medical director of Allegheny General Hospital's emergency department, says that in his four shifts last week, he saw about six to seven positive flu cases per shift.
According to the Allegheny County Health Department's data, there were 830 emergency department visits for flu in the week of Feb. 2, the most since November of 2022.
Rau said wait times are up at Allegheny Health Network hospitals overall, including AGH. He said it is something some of his friends at UPMC are seeing too.
He said it's spread pretty evenly across age groups. The flu is something that in most cases, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems will see more serious symptoms.
As for why we're seeing this spike this year, Rau says it may be too early to tell. He says maybe this year's flu shot didn't work as well, or maybe it did and what we're seeing would be even worse without it.
"It might have to do with the strand," Rau said. "It might have to do with how particularly contagious this particular strand of influenza is – those are kinds of things that unfortunately take a little bit of time to figure out down the road."
Rau says not everyone with the flu needs to make an ER visit. If the symptoms are tolerable, you might not need one. But if you're so sick that you have symptoms like confusion, cognitive issues, extreme vomiting, dizziness, or chest pain, it may be worth the evaluation.
Allegheny Health Network patients can monitor emergency room wait times online.
