Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana, Calif., stopped accepting ambulances Thursday afternoon for non-trauma patients after seeing a spike in flu cases, according to a KCBS report.
Flu-related emergency room admissions increased 40 percent above average at Riverside (Calif.) Community Hospital, said Steven Kim, MD, medical director for RCH. However, many of the patients had uncomplicated influenza, which means they would require minimal medical attention.
The Orange County Health Care Agency listed approximately 1,200 flu cases, which is over double the number of flu cases seen in the first week of January 2016.
Ray Casciari, MD, internist at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif., predicts this is an early spike in flu cases and that the number of cases across California will reach four times what it was this time last year.