Wang TH, Jheng JC, Tseng YT, et al. - Researchers conducted this retrospective cohort study of elderly patients (≥ 65 years) with influenza visiting the emergency department (ED) of a medical center with the aim to report on the accurate disposition of these patients to either the ward or intensive care unit (ICU). The ability of NEWS to prognosticate ICU admission via logistic regression and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was determined. A total of 409 geriatric patients in the ED were included; their mean age was 79.5 years. Findings suggest a high specificity of NEWS ≥ 8 for predicting ICU admission in these elderly during the epidemic season and this may avoid unnecessary ICU admissions and ensure proper medical resource allocation.