Children’s hospitals across the country, including on Long Island, are seeing an extraordinary increase in the number of respiratory syncytial virus cases. Doctors here said that they have never seen it this bad in recent memory.

The sounds of children wheezing and struggling to breathe are filling emergency rooms at Cohen Children’s Medical Center. Their emergency department is seeing 44% more children per day compared to 2019.

Most of the cases are children with RSV. The hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit has been operating above 100% capacity for several weeks. Hospital staff have been using every inch of free space to make room for patients because there are not enough beds available.

Children have been placed in beds that fill hallways, family lounges or playrooms and dozens of more families sit in the ER waiting room.

“We’re using all sorts of alternative care spaces and that includes, for example, our surgical recovery unit, our MRI unit,” explained Dr. Matthew Harris, pediatric emergency room physician at Cohen Children’s. “While this has certainly been a test and a stress on the system, we’ve really been able to mobilize resources to meet that demand.”

Harris told Team 12 Investigates that this is the first time in more than a decade that he can remember having to leverage resources to this extent to make room for the increase in patients.

Cohen Children’s has needed to transfer patients to rooms at other hospitals throughout Northwell Health to free up beds, including the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Huntington Hospital, South Shore University Hospital and Lenox Hill Hospital.

COVID-19 mitigation strategies may be one reason for this early surge in cases, but there are likely several other factors at play that doctors just cannot pinpoint.

At this rate, hospitals have a long winter ahead. Doctors are concerned with the timing of this surge in RSV cases. Health care workers said they have never seen it this bad, this early, and the season typically does not reach its peak until late-December.

“Every year, winter is a challenge for pediatric emergency rooms,” added Harris. “The volume here I've never seen before, but I will say that I continue to be impressed by my colleagues here, and frankly, at children’s hospitals throughout the area as we all struggle to meet this challenge. It's been overwhelming.”

Doctors recommended calling your pediatrician first before going to the emergency room. Symptoms of RSV usually include:

Seek emergency care if your child is having severe difficulty breathing or is showing signs of dehydration, such as a decrease in wet diapers.