Cases of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, have been rising nationally since the spring, and doctors in Massachusetts started noticing the trend in the past two to three weeks.

But unlike hospitals in the South that are also coping with a surge in COVID-19 cases, children’s hospitals in Massachusetts say the illness is not straining capacity.

Ben Nelson, a pediatric pulmonologist at MassGeneral Hospital for Children.

In typical years, nearly all children become infected with the virus before they reach age 2, with a small fraction requiring hospital visits.

The hospital has seen about a dozen cases in each of the past two weeks, she said.

“We have admitted over the weekend a number of children to the hospital, including some who had to go to the ICU,” said Dr.

She estimated that “a handful” of RSV cases have been coming to the hospital each day over the past couple of weeks, although most don’t need to be admitted.

The RSV cases are coming in addition to the injuries, trauma, and drownings that are more common in the summer, Rice said.

Still, she said, “We haven’t had to go to any special surge capacity.

We regularly meet now to make sure that we’re prepared for any surge that may come our way.”.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory on June 10 about an increase in RSV cases across parts of the South.

Cases have appeared in many other states, too, and doctors in Massachusetts were waiting for the surge to reach here.

But some other states have had to contend with COVID-19 at the same time, a problem not seen in Massachusetts because of the state’s high vaccination rate.

The summer spike probably won’t prevent the illness from resurfacing on its usual schedule in the winter, said Moffitt, of Boston Children’s.

“I do expect that we’ll see a typical RSV surge this winter,” she said.