Area hospitals are seeing a spike in a variety of winter illnesses, one hospital official stated last week.

During the Carbon County Collaborative meeting, John Nespoli, president of the St. Luke’s Carbon and Lehighton campuses, reported that illnesses have been “very prevalent.”

“There are a lot of admissions specific to it and I’m sure Lehigh Valley (Health Network) is going through the same thing,” he said. “We’ve been in excess of bed capacity for the last few weeks.”

However, overall, Nespoli said it has been manageable, with most recovering without issue.

“It’s hitting the vulnerable and the older pretty hard,” he added.

Over the last several weeks, cases of the flu, RSV, COVID and other respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses have been circulating as people gathered for the holidays and colder temperatures keep gatherings indoors.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects flu activity in the United States to increase in the coming weeks,” said Terry Burger, RN, Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Administrator of Infection Control and Prevention in a recent article on the health network’s website. “Flu in the Northern Hemisphere is often caused by viruses similar to those that spread in the Southern Hemisphere during their winter flu season.”

The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported cases were the highest of the season so far in the week ending Jan. 4. Statewide, there were 10,570 cases of Influenza A, 278 of Influenza B and 4,103 of RSV.

In the Times News region, Carbon had 410 cases of the flu reported and 123 RSV; Lehigh had 2,030 cases of the flu and 1082 RSV; Monroe had 1,224 cases of the flu and 341 cases of RSV; Northampton, 1,351 cases of the flu and 648 RSV, and Schuylkill had 432 cases of the flu and 457 RSV cases reported.

Nespoli said that to help protect yourself, go back to the basics.

“It’s the same old stuff, good hand hygiene, mask up if you think you are ill or you’re around somebody who is ill. Get your vaccines,” he said. “It’s mainly just your typical precautions.”

These illnesses, he noted are hanging around a little longer than normal in people who are infected so if you have someone who is in the vulnerable group or is older, just make sure to take the precautions.

“Don’t be afraid of masking up,” Nespoli said. “It’s a rough season. We’re seeing new records for visits in the (Emergency Department) that we’ve never seen before.

“It’s good that we have two hospitals here because we need them,” he added.

Robyn Plesniarski of LVHN, who was on the virtual meeting with the group agreed with Nespoli, saying that the health network was seeing much of the same.