Kishwaukee Community Hospital, 1 Kish Hospital Drive, has set up a tent just outside the emergency entrance due to an increase in patients with flu-like symptoms.

The hospital has seen a 50 percent increase in the amount of patients, a majority of them with flu-like symptoms, said Theresa Komitas, marketing and public relations specialist.

“The tent is just an extension of treatment that we put up when we see an influx of patients,” Komitas said. “When the waiting room is full and there are patients presenting symptoms that could be contagious, we don’t want them sitting in the waiting room.”

She said the tent is lighted and heated, and that it will be up a long as it is needed.

She said the hospital cannot tell the patients if they have the H1N1 virus, but they can perform a “rapid nasal swab” of someone who is sick and inform them if they have Type A or Type B influenza.

She said further testing by the Center for Disease Control is needed in order to diagnose a patient with H1N1.

According to the CDC Web site, the H1N1 virus is a described as “novel influenza A.”

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