Victorian doctors ‘seeing more’ illness in kids than usual this winter

Doctors are reporting Victorian kids are sicker this winter than in years before, after emerging from extended periods of isolation during lockdowns.

As reported by Neil Mitchell on Tuesday morning, the wait time at the Royal Children’s Hospital emergency department on Monday evening blew out to nine hours.

Doctors say there are increased numbers of children suffering hand foot and mouth disease, RSV, gastro, school sores, COVID-19 and influenza.

“We seem to be seeing more this winter,” Victorian chair of the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Belinda Hibble, told Neil Mitchell.

“Certainly we had a couple of winters where children weren’t mingling as much as they had been … so they weren’t going through almost that rite of passage by developing immunity by being exposed to lots of viruses in that toddler age.”

While the illnesses circulating are, with the exception of COVID-19, the same ones circulating during winter in previous years, Dr Hibble says they’re usually seen at “a lower level”.

Press PLAY below for Dr Hibble’s tips on helping kids avoid illness