(WILMINGTON Del. – April 9, 2025)

As rates of respiratory illness decline across the region following the most severe flu season since 2009, ChristianaCare will end the temporary Cough & Cold Line service that it launched in February 2025 to meet the surge in demand for care. The final day of the Cough & Cold Line will be April 11.

This impactful service was a beacon of support for individuals experiencing coughs, colds and related respiratory symptoms, offering essential guidance and access to care when it was most needed.

In its seven weeks of operation, the Cough and Cold Line responded to over 1,200 calls from individuals seeking assistance, underscoring the urgent need for accessible healthcare resources during a challenging time. Due to the success of the line, ChristianaCare will utilize similar lines in the future to support community needs. In many cases, the service enabled individuals to manage their symptoms effectively at home and connect to virtual primary care or urgent care when needed, alleviating the strain on emergency departments.

“This flu season was the worst in over a decade and we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who used the Cough & Cold Line to help find the most appropriate care for their respiratory symptoms,” said Sarah Schenck, M.D., FACP, executive director of the ChristianaCare Center for Virtual Health. “This was a service that we stood up very quickly to address an immediate need in the community and we’ll take learnings from it and pull them forward as we address community needs in the future. This service line played a vital role in supporting our patients and our caregivers when it was most crucial and we are proud of the impact made.”

ChristianaCare encourages everyone to stay informed and take proactive steps in managing their health. To learn more about health care services available, including primary care, visit https://christianacare.org. For urgent medical needs, ChristianaCare operates 16 Go-Health Urgent Care Centers located throughout Delaware and Maryland. Patients can conveniently save their spot in line or schedule a virtual visit by visiting https://ow.ly/PIXe50UUrNj.

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About ChristianaCare

Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, ChristianaCare is one of the country’s most dynamic health care organizations, centered on improving health outcomes, and innovating to make high-quality care more accessible, equitable and affordable. ChristianaCare includes an extensive network of primary care and outpatient services, home health care, urgent care centers, three hospitals (1,430 beds), a freestanding emergency department, a Level I trauma center and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, a comprehensive stroke center and regional centers of excellence in heart and vascular care, cancer care and women’s health. It also includes the pioneering Gene Editing Institute.

ChristianaCare is nationally recognized as a great place to work, rated by Forbes as one of the nation’s best employers for diversity and inclusion. ChristianaCare is rated by Newsweek as one of the World’s Best Hospitals and is continually ranked among the best in the U.S. in national quality and safety ratings. ChristianaCare is a nonprofit teaching health system with more than 260 residents and fellows. With its groundbreaking Center for Virtual Health and a focus on population health and value-based care, ChristianaCare is shaping the future of health care.

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