D.C.-area children’s hospitals are at capacity

Children’s hospitals in the D.C. area have been full for weeks, with patients stacking up in emergency departments as a surge in respiratory illnesses exacerbates the strain of staff shortages and a dwindling supply of pediatric beds.

Children’s National Hospital in Northwest D.C., as well as the children’s hospitals at Inova Fairfax in Northern Virginia and the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, which represent a total of more than 650 beds, are at capacity, physicians at the hospitals said this week.