Flu season usually doesn’t get going until December or January, but this one began early and has been complicated by the simultaneous spread of other viruses.

Advocate Health said the merger creates the fifth-largest nonprofit health system by revenue in the country. 

The call service, which was launched in July, was restored shortly before midnight on Thursday.

More than 9% of hospitals in the Lone Star State are at risk of closure, compared with 4.7% in 2020, according to a report released this week from consulting firm Kaufman Hall.