When St Philip was sick, did he ever ask some of his penitents to wait until he got better to go to confession?

Yes. We read about a forty day fever that St Philip had. During that time, some of his normal penitents went to other confessors. But there was a group of young men that St Philip asked to wait. He asked them not to confess to another priest, but to be patient. Why would St Philip do this? What lesson can we learn from this on the first day of the year?