Flu cases, weather-related injuries swamping area hospitals

Doctors here at Allegheny General Hospital are seeing patient after patient with the flu in the emergency room.

“It’s been absolutely just a crazy flu season,” said Dr. Brian Rau. “We’ve had more flu cases than I have seen here in previous years.”

“My wife didn’t go to work today because she has been sick and my daughter has been sick two days from it,” said Charles Brown of Pittsburgh.

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The weather isn’t helping. With another winter storm coming in, doctors tell us they are seeing more cases of people slipping and falling because of ice on the roads and sidewalks.

“More than our fair share of falls this year on the ice, fractures and things of that nature,” Rau said.

Doctors say they are seeing more patients this winter from car accidents because of icy conditions, in addition to the respiratory viruses making this winter tough to handle for those treating all the patients and those just trying to get through it.

“I thought I was going to have to go to the hospital,” said Brown. “I literally came out my house, and it had rained and snowed. I was on my way to work and I slipped and fell. I couldn’t get back up.”

Cox Media Group