Confirmed RSV cases continue to rise, many pre-schoolers off sick

Respiratory illnesses are continuing to keep Christchurch pre-schoolers off sick, as health authorities forecast respiratory syncytial virus numbers will keep rising.

Christchurch Hospital emergency department respiratory illness presentations dropped yesterday to 45, down from 61 on Monday, but the RSV surge is stretching capacity and pushing out wait times.

Kimihia Early Learning Centre manager Radhika Chakrabarti said there were only about 10 children attending from the expected roll of 43 yesterday, as low attendance continued from the week before last.

A one-year-old at the Woolston pre-school had been hospitalised with RSV, however, she has since recovered and returned this week.

"It’s just taken a toll on the families, it’s scary for the parents,” Chakrabarti said.

"We have sent children home when they were unwell, because we have to keep other children safe, because it just spreads."

While some of the absences this week could be attributed to parents keeping children home to spend time with their siblings over the school holidays, it seemed the illness was prevalent and three of Kimihia Early Learning Centre’s teachers had also had symptoms and had to take time off work.

New Beginnings Preschool centre manager Mandi Hemopo said the Linwood pre-school hit a record low attendance number of just two from a daily roll of 36 last week as children were hit with respiratory symptoms and some were diagnosed with RSV.

Attendance had climbed yesterday to 14.

"It was pretty rough, but they are stating to come back and getting better," Hemopo said.

Canterbury District Health Board medical officer of health Dr Cheryl Brunton said there had been a steep rise in the number of confirmed RSV cases in the past two weeks, with 114 confirmed cases between July 5 and 11.

"This likely reflects the rise seen in other parts of the country, and we are expecting case numbers to continue to rise,” Brunton said.

Chief medical officer Dr Helen Skinner said 388 people presented to Christchurch Hospital ED with respiratory illnesses between July 5 and 11, with 118 this past weekend alone.

This compared with 243 for the same week in 2019. Five children had been admitted to ICU with respiratory illnesses.

The ED provided care to 391 people on Monday.

Of these, 61 had presented with respiratory illness.

On Tuesday it provided care to 313. Of these, 45 people had presented with respiratory illness.

"We’re unable to confirm whether these are all due to RSV specifically as viral testing is not conducted on all patients.

"Anecdotally, we are still seeing an increased number of people presenting to our facilities with RSV.”

While capacity had been stretched due to a surge in respiratory viral infections, the only surgical deferrals to date were four cases reported last Tuesday.

However, average wait times in ED had increased.