Unprecedented ED Patient Volumes and Inpatient Census
- Seattle Children’s Emergency Department is open and ready to care for all children needing emergency care. Do not hesitate to direct patients to the ED if they need immediate medical attention.
- We continue to see very high levels of inpatient census and ED visits in the wake of unprecedented mid-September volumes, driven primarily by non-COVID-19 respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses.
- We continue to run under a disaster incident command structure and contingency status for staffing and space.
- We ask that providers continue to manage patients in primary care whenever possible and appropriate.
- When sending families to the ED, please call our Communications Center first (206-987-8899) to help us with staffing and space planning.
- Please advise families to expect longer-than-typical wait times at our ED and that we are triaging to see the sickest patients first.
For more information:
- See our Emergency or Urgent Care Referral Guide
- See patient care algorithms and other PCP resources at seattlechildrens.org/algorithms
COVID-19 Bivalent Boosters
Seattle Children’s offers bivalent booster vaccines for COVID-19 from Pfizer and Moderna at three locations: our main hospital, Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic in Seattle and Seattle Children’s South Clinic in Federal Way.
- For children ages 12 years and older, the CDC recommends the Pfizer-BioNTech updated boosters.
- For people 18 years and older, the CDC recommends the Moderna updated boosters.
Appointments are required. Walk-ins are available only for ambulatory clinic patients already at the hospital campus. For more information or to schedule a vaccine appointment, visit our website.
