By Bill Raack, St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis, MO – St. Louis Children's Hospital isn't the only medical facility taking special steps to deal with the sudden increase in the number of patients with flu-like symptoms.
Earlier this week, the hospital erected two large tents in its parking garage to handle the extra patients.
Now, Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis has taken similar precautions. Spokesman Bob Davidson says they will treat kids in space usually used as doctors' offices.
"Ordinarily that space would be dark in the evenings and over the weekends but we're using it for a flu clinic. Hopefully it's a quicker solution for them and it's also a solution that allows us to not exposing kids who don't have flu germs to those germs," Davidson said.
Davidson says during a normal day, Cardinal Glennon sees about 130 patients in their emergency room. Twice this week, he says, they have seen double that number.