Shortage Of Pediatric Hospital Beds Places Strain On Hospitals As COVID-19, Flu, RSV Cases Spike

The Washington Post (12/17) reported hospitals this year have been “strained under the load of RSV infections and, more recently, influenza and the coronavirus.” The shortage of available hospital beds has affected “infants and children” especially, many of whom “have been transported out of their home cities and even to other states to find care.” There is not just “a deluge of sick children,” but an entire systemic shortage of beds as, “over the past two decades, hospital systems across the country have whittled down the supply of pediatric beds, which lose money because they often are unoccupied.” And “even when they are occupied by sick children, pediatric beds generate less revenue for hospitals than do adult beds, medical experts say.” The total number of pediatric inpatient “beds nationwide dropped 11.8 percent from 2008 to 2018, according to a study published last year in the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.”

AAP News: CDC: 30 children have died of flu