by After the wave of bronchiolitis in children under one year old who, for weeks, urinary and pediatric emergencies, Catalan hospitals are now experiencing a very iintense care pressure in his adult emergencies by other respiratory infections in adults, mainly the flu. Hi calculate that flu peak comes around Christmas and later once it goes down the peak of covid-19. But doctors fear that the two peaks coincide at the same time, especially once this bridge of December passed.
“We are practically living in a semi-collapse. If the number of flu cases continues to increase and this coexists with the rise of covud-19, obviously it will no longer work. Spaces and resources are what they are,” says Michael Sanchez, Director of the Emergency Department at Hospital Clínic (Barcelona). “I fear that the covid peak, which is expected after Christmas, coincides with that of the flu. There’s a bridge where it goes lots of social interaction And always after this bridge there was an increase in covid”, he underlines in reference to what happened in previous years.
Sánchez asks the user to “try” to do “home confinement”: go to the GP or call 061 before going to the emergency room. “Were frankly full and we know it’s general,” he says. The same underlines the sea hospital (Barcelona). “Our emergencies are with a lot of care pressure, especially with respiratory infections. We are not much different from any year with the peak of the flu. But this year He came much earlier and very strong”, Explain Robert Guéri, head of the infectious diseases of the sea section.
Güerri assures that the situation “is not easy”. In fact, the hospital is already trying to create “new hospital spaces” to “decongest”, what health centers do “every year” with flu peaks.
Influenza: the fastest growing virus
The flu it is now the respiratory virus that circulates the most in Catalonia. is present in the 24.3% of samples, followed by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV, 16.1%), rhino virus, what causes the common cold and who topped the list last week (15.4%) and the SARS-CoV-2 (13.3%). “We’ve seen a pretty noticeable increase in the flu last week. The covid is more punctual, but it is also visible”, explains Sánchez de la Clínic.
In addition, he warns that many flu patients, especially those fragile and multipathological, they eventually come in. Right now, he says, a “usual” number of people are coming in during these times. “That It’s not normal, it’s that the flu arrived before other years. The normal thing was for the peak to come in the second or third week of January,” he says.
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Since Hospital of Santa Creu and Sant Pau (Barcelona) warn that “all respiratory viruses” are on the rise. “Over the past two years, there has been protective barriers, like the mask. And having left them shows”, says the infectiologist Peter Sunday. ensures that, for the time being, “everything is under control” but he warns that this week “everything is running at a very low level” because of the bridge.
the Vall d’Hebron Hospital (Barcelona) ensures that he receives “a lot of influx” of patients because of the flu, but everything “works fine”. The center allowed the Garbi Building to accommodate flu patients.
