It's an alarming combination -- an early flu season hitting now across the country that doesn't seem to have peaked yet.
"There's a lot of people who think that the increases that are happening now are because there's been a lack of exposure over the last couple of years," said Dr. Brendan Carr of Mt. Sinai Health.Flu numbers have nearly double in the last week as it spikes faster and earlier, leading to 23,000 flu hospitalizations nationwide.
Experts are advising parents to contact pediatricians before taking their children to the ER. That is exactly what Camille Bourdel did when her 6-year-old son got a bad cold that triggered an asthma attack. They took him to NYP Methodist Hospital. When they got to the hospital, they were told there were no pediatric beds available. It meant having to wait for another young patient to be discharged.
Pediatric hospital bed occupancy across the United States is currently at 78 percent - the highest level in two years."If he does well, we'll have him back home tomorrow," said Bourdel.
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