Eighth District Congresswoman Kim Schrier is asking the Biden administration to declare respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, an emergency.

Schrier wrote an opinion column in the Seattle Times with Seattle Children's Hospital CEO Jeff Sperring.

The two asked President Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to declare a public health emergency, similar to the one declared for COVID-19.

The opinion column said RSV is one of the two main issues straining children’s hospitals right now, along with an ongoing youth mental health crisis.

The column says declaring an emergency would relax Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP requirements, and would give the health care system more flexibility to care for children.

"We would echo the request of the Children’s Hospital Association and American Academy of Pediatrics when asking for waivers to allow a temporary reprieve from certain restrictions on moving patients, allowing the use of new spaces for care, and support for cross-state care and telehealth," the column read.

Schrier is a pediatrician and the second woman physician to serve in Congress.

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