MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The "triple-demic" continues to make it’s way through the midsouth as urgent care wait times remain high.
Mid-South doctors encourage everyone to have a primary care physician to decrease these wait times while also combatting the rise in illnesses. Even parents are saying the flu looks very different this year, than in past years, at least for their vaccinated children.
Edie Efron has three kids, two of whom have been sick in the past couple of months with various illnesses said her kids are vaccinated against both COVID and the flu and believes that just may be why the symptoms weren’t severe.
“His did not mirror any flu I’ve ever seen before,” Efron said.
Efron took her son to the doctor thinking he had strep throat like his sister, when tests surprisingly came back with a positive flu diagnosis
“He did not have a fever, he only had a stomachache, but he had the flu. In my head, I like to think that the vaccine really helped keep it at bay and especially protect the other four of us in the household or anyone in his classroom,” Efron said.
If a person is not vaccinated, but has already gotten the flu, Baptist Hospital’s Dr. Steve Threlkeld said that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t proceed in getting the flu shot once they recover as the flu shot protects you against multiple strains.
“Remember, the flu vaccine has four different components, both A and B, and so you could very well have on type of flu and then you fail to get the vaccine to protect you from the next strain that’s gonna be coming around your community in January,” Dr. Threlkeld said. “So, it’s important to go ahead and get the vaccine even if you’ve had one type of the flu already.”
Vaccinated or not, the flu can always be tough to deal with. However, Le Bonheur’s Dr. Nick Hysmith said not every illness warrants a doctor’s visit.
“Really high fevers, you don’t feel well, you child doesn’t feel well,” Dr. Hysmith said. “Is it necessary to go anywhere? I would say at that point, you’ve got an exposure, you’ve got your child that’s just feeling puny and has a fever. It’s not really necessary at that point to go and get that diagnosis.”
But as symptoms get more severe, urgent care may be needed.
“You see that they’re starting to worsen,” Dr. Hysmith said. “You see an increase breathing, you see they’re breathing faster, they’re breathing harder. They’re having trouble catching their breath, maybe they aren’t taking in enough water or food to maintain themselves throughout the day.”
Medical help can be sought in the form of giving your primary care physician a call to get a prescription or going to an urgent care or emergency room. However, having a PCP is the best way to keep wait times down in emergency and get necessary prescriptions.
“When people who don’t really need to be in an emergency department just don’t have anybody to call so they go to an emergency department for care, that’s what really makes things very strained,” Dr. Threlkeld said. “Because a lot of people that probably can get care with a phone call from their primary provider, really are in emergency departments kind of congesting the situation.”
While illness and long wait times to see healthcare providers are hitting the midsouth pretty hard, parents are giving other parents their kudos when it come to keeping everyone safe and healthy.
“I’m so impressed with people really adhering to trying to keep your kids home as long as possible to protect others and I’ve actually seen a lot of kids come back in masks,” parent and substitute teacher Efron said.
She said although illnesses aren’t fully preventable, she does her part to keep her kids safe by ensuring frequent handwashing and getting in their vitamins and minerals.