TULSA, Okla. — In the wake of holiday gatherings and travel, waiting rooms in local hospitals, doctors offices and urgent clinics are quickly filling up with people suffering from gastrointestinal and respiratory illnesses.
"Respiratory illness in particular is spreading," said Dr. Peyton Holden, including the flu with symptoms including: "Fever, body aches, cough, sore throat, nasal congestion - sometimes shortness of breath." Holden is Co-Director of the St. John Emergency Department.
Oklahoma's overall positivity rate for influenza-like illness for the week ending Dec. 28 came in at 15%, with Northeast Oklahoma slightly lower and Western parts of the state higher.
St. Francis Hospital crunched its data on respiratory and gastrointestinal illness. It told 2 News its seen "an explosion of cases" recently. A deeper dive into the numbers shows that even with this week's surge in cases, it's still about half the amount seen during the same time frame last year.
Dr. Holden recommends using hand sanitizer to help cut down on the spread of most viral illnesses, but not norovirus. For it, he recommends frequent hand washing with warm water and soap.
Norovirus symptoms include:
- nausea
- vomiting
- diarrhea
If you're not feeling well, Springer Urgent Care Clinic's Dr. Stephanie Meissen recommends, "If you're around people who are high risk - older adults, children, maybe people who are immuno-compromised, go ahead and come in sooner rather than later to find out what it is that you have."
She said it's especially important to get fluand Coviddiagnosed early because both have a short window for effective treatment.
Dr. Holden wants people to know the emergency room is always an option for care, but isn't always necessary for all illnesses.
"Certainly if they're more mild and you feel comfortable going to urgent care or primary care that's always a reasonable option," she said.
When Lynn Casey thought her son might have strep throat she opted for a virtual visit.
"The last thing you want to do is go sit around and wait when you're not feeling well," said Casey.
"Virtual visits are great if you're not having shortness of breath or really high fever," said Dr. Meissen. "We can talk about it and sometime we can get answer just from that discussion and within the Warren Clinic St Francis System we can also order testing where you can go to the nearest lab walk right up to the lab get swabbed and you'll have those answers without having to go and sit in the doctor's office."
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