'Tis the season for sickness in South Florida.

"I see him very congestion, very gloomy," said Jamie Jorge, of Coral Springs.

Jorge took her son Nicolas to get checked out by a pediatrician. He is the youngest of her four children; his older siblings are all in school.

"It's crazy we have elementary, we have middle and high school," Jorge said. "Usually, it goes one gets it, and then everyone is down."

Spike in flu and RSV cases

Dr. Pilar Delgado is a pediatrician at Bluebird Kids Health in Tamarac. 

"We're having a spike of flu definitely," Delgado said.

According to the Florida Department of Health, flu cases and emergency visits have been increasing across the state.

"Characteristically, we see that with the influenza, the fevers are high, very high and very frequent, but again a lot of symptoms overlap even with allergies," Delgado said.

In Bluebird's South Florida offices last week, Delgado said they saw 35 positive flu cases out of 113 patients tested - that's a 31% positivity rate. They also saw positive strep and RSV cases.

What symptoms to look out for

So, when should you take your child to the doctor?

"Kids might have a running nose and coughing, but they're still running around, not with a fever, eating well, very active and very playful, that's less concerning," Delgado said. "When the kid starts feeling down, eating less, having fevers, and sometimes even the cough would make them throw up, those would be the times to consult with a pediatrician."

Delgado said her advice is to keep up with vaccines like the flu shot, wash your hands frequently, and eat a healthy diet to boost your immunity.

As we prepare to gather for the holidays, Delgado said to take extra precautions if your child is sick, especially if you'll be around elderly relatives.

"Families may have grandparents or family members with immunocompromised disease, and if they get together in a family reunion, they get exposed to these viruses that could make them very sick or complicate their medical condition," Delgado said.

The Jorge family hopes their efforts will keep sickness from crashing the holiday party.

"We do a lot of cleaning surfaces and things like that and try to push washing hands, but it doesn't really happen all the time," Jorge said.