Children’s Hospital Colorado sees early rise of respiratory viruses, along with spiking COVID-19 cases

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Children's Hospital Colorado-Colorado Springs is starting to notice a rise in respiratory viruses months earlier than normal, as they also see a rise in COVID-19 cases among children.

Normally, they see a rise in respiratory viruses, like RSV and Rhinovirus, around November or December. However, this year is different.

Dr. Mike DiStefano, the Chief Medical Officer at Children's Hospital Colorado-Colorado Springs, said one theory that might explain the early rise in other respiratory viruses could be the pandemic.

"It's still unclear why it happened. Our infectious disease doctors don't really understand why we're in such unprecedented times in our healthcare industry to really truly understand why we're seeing these respiratory and winter viruses and in the summer and fall time," Dr. DiStefano said.

Since many of these viruses present similarly, Dr. DiStefano recommends treating a cough or runny nose like COVID-19 until you're able to get a test.

"What we are seeing a lot of times in the very early stages are families saying I thought my child had a sinus infection, so they had a little bit of nasal drip, and then started having fever a day later, and then tested then for COVID, it sort of puts them behind the eight ball," Dr. DiStefano said.

The uptick in respiratory viruses isn't currently impacting capacity at Children's Hospital Colorado, however, the staff there is prepared for that possibility as the highly infectious COVID-19 Delta Variant also spreads.

They are prepared to send patients home with oxygen or even pause elective surgeries if the situation becomes dire enough, but officials say we're not close to that right now.

The best tool to keep capacity under control at Children's Hospital Colorado is taking steps to prevent the spread of these respiratory viruses -- things like washing your hands, social distancing, and masking up.

"There have been a lot of statements around masks causing mental health, there is no data to support that -- from a research perspective," Dr. DiStefano said. "What we do know is that the social isolation caused by quarantines, and homeschool or hybrid learning, some of the things that we went through last year, were definitely a problem for our kids."

Dr. DiStefano said that wearing masks and taking measures to prevent the spread can lead to kids being able to spend more time together and can improve their mental health.