PHOENIX — “I figured he was going to get it but I didn’t think it was going to be this quick,” said Alisha Fisher.
She and her husband Adam Fisher’s son Atlas was born premature and just days after being released from the NICU, he ended up right back in the hospital with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
“He got admitted to Phoenix Children’s from Mercy Gilbert, and we were there for about 5 days,” said Alisa. “It was terrible. It’s hard to see such a small baby attached to oxygen.
But this isn’t the Fishers first time dealing with RSV. “We watched our daughter have it three times three years in a row, and she was on oxygen each time,” said Alisha.
Their daughter Addison was also born prematurely. She caught the virus, the first time, days after she left the hospital.
So, with their son having it this time, the Fishers tried to be careful. “But I forgot to protect myself, and I ended up getting sick,” said Alisha. “Subsequentially the baby ended up getting sick.”
Atlas, just one-month-old, was thankfully released last Friday.
His case is one of the over 39,000 here in Arizona this season.
For the last six weeks, those numbers have been climbing with most cases popping up in Maricopa County.
The latest numbers show 861 cases in one week, nearly seven times the cases the county saw during the same week last year.
“The addition to this is influenza numbers are starting to go up over the last couple of weeks, so we are seeing that and we are seeing COVID-19 going up again,” said Division Chief of Infectious Disease for Phoenix Children’s Hospital Dr. Wassim Ballan.
He told ABC15 they still have capacity for those who need to be hospitalized. Banner Hospital also said they have capacity in Phoenix and Tuscon. But hospitals across the state are feeling the strain.
TMC Healthcare sent us a statement that said:
TMC is experiencing high volumes of respiratory patients in our pediatric units. We are taking swift and active measures to expand capacity and staffing to treat as many patients as we safely can. The acuity of patients coming through our ED requiring admission has resulted in limited capacity from outside hospitals. RSV and other respiratory illness is currently extremely active and aggressive, especially for this time of year. TMC has assembled a team that is assessing the situation daily, and making adjustments as needed in order to address the need the community is seeing. We have also opened three of our TMCOne pediatric offices to walk-in appointments to the public and have extended urgent care hours.
Thanksgiving, a typical time for big family gatherings, is just days away.
“I think we need to go back to who are the most vulnerable,” said Dr. Ballan.
Dr. Ballan said that group includes children under two-years-old, especially those less than six months. Also, babies like the Fishers, who were born prematurely or with pre-existing conditions related to their heart or lungs.
“They probably need to as much as possible avoid big groups where someone could be carrying the virus and pass it on to them,” said Dr. Ballan.
“Don’t be afraid to put boundaries in place between your babies and your family,” said Alisha.
She said she knows that can be awkward and difficult. Their family is hopeful Atlas is healthy enough to have a very small Thanksgiving with just Adam’s parents.
“Don’t feel bad if you are going to make the decision to not be around family because the numbers are high,” said Alisha.
