Amid respiratory infection surge, Salem Hospital diverts ambulances for first time since July

Salem Hospital is again diverting ambulances to other hospitals for the first time since this summer as a wave of respiratory virus infections has helped fill the hospital to capacity regularly.

The latest rounds of diversion began Thanksgiving weekend, due to a rise in flu, Covid and RSV cases in the weeks before the holiday.

“There were a lot of people in the emergency department at that time, to begin the weekend, we had the…