Surge of viruses leaves children’s hospitals scrambling to free up beds and find room for patients

Every inpatient bed at Comer Children’s Hospital in Chicago has been full for more than six weeks. Emergency room volume is up more than 150%.

The flow of patients is like "a treadmill that never ends," said Dr. Allison Bartlett, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Comer Children’s. As soon as a child is discharged, their bed fills up with the next kid in need.

Yet the hospital is simultaneously fielding a barrage of requests to accept new patients from facilities that don’t treat children or are overrun themselves.

"It’s...