ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The flu is showing no mercy to anyone across Central Florida.
A spokesperson at Orlando Health said the hospital's seeing the highest numbers of confirmed flu cases since officials started tracking the numbers four months ago.
Officials said they have enough room for patients, but they're monitoring how many people come in with the flu.
Officials said they’re still a ways away from considering limiting visitors to the hospital. A number of steps would have to be taken before they could start considering limiting visitors, but they are monitoring the numbers by the day so they could adjust protocol if need be.
Officials are taking precautionary measures like urging visitors to use respiratory stations throughout the hospital to stop the spread. They're even considering creating a special triage unit in the emergency room so that infected patients don't add to the problem.
“This is a pretty nasty flu season cause there's a lot of people in the hospital with the flu, and I've seen a lot of people, particularly young and old. It doesn't seem to discriminate one way or the other, and they can get heart problems,” said Dr. Arnold Einhorn, with the Orlando Health Institute.
In one rare case, Einhorn told Channel 9's Racquel Asa, a younger man died after coming in with the flu. The man later tested positive for having a heart attack.
“He developed what's known as a cardiomyopathy, his heart gave out and he died within a few days,” Einhorn said.
A hospital spokesperson said they’re optimistic the number of flu cases will start to go down over the next couple days.
After flu season, the Orlando Health Heart Institute will be part of a statewide study that looks at whether the flu vaccine can prevent heart problems.
Cox Media Group
