One Florida nurse is giving people a piece of her mind about this year’s flu season in a funny Facebook video rant that has since gone viral.
The video features Katherine Lockler in the front seat of her car coming off of a 12-hour shift at the hospital where she works. In the video she comically shares her experiences from the night before while offering some much-needed tips to those she witnessed breaking flu-spreading etiquette.
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Lockler goes on to give other tips to people when it comes to visiting the emergency room during the height of flu season.
“Right now we have up to 25 to 30 patients sitting for hours in the emergency room waiting room and some of them are not true emergencies but they’re waiting along with the flu right next to them,” Lockler explains. “But guess what? Five flues came in; 15 flues walk out. It’s great. And guess what? Half of them don’t realize they have the flu yet – they’ll be back.”
It seems Lockler’s words are really resonating with folks online. Her rant has garnered over 5.2 million views since being posted last weekend.
“Thank you for speaking your mind!” wrote Facebook user Michelle Nast. “We need more folks who are not afraid to speak the truth.”
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“She sounds like my sister who is Director of Critical Care and my other sister who is an ER nurse,” Robert Sd wrote. “Heed the advice!”
“Common sense is lacking,” Ivette Perez commented. “Glad you’re educating people and everything you said is true.”
According to the latest estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been about 37 pediatric deaths related to the flu so far this season, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald reported on Jan. 26 to reporters in a flu activity update.
The number of people visiting doctors with flu-like symptoms has risen to 6.6 per cent, which is reportedly the highest level of activity recorded since the 2009 H1N1 pandemic (which peaked at 7.7 per cent).
In Canada, however, the latest influenza report for the period of Jan. 14 to 20 shows that Canada’s influenza activity also remains high, but there is some indication that the activity is slowing down.
The percentage of positive tests for influenza has increased to 31 per cent from 29 per cent, mostly due to an increase in influenza B positive cases.
So far there have been 2,643 hospitalizations due to the flu across Canada, as well as 241 ICU admissions and 110 deaths.
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