Castile and León faces flu peak ‘without collapse’

Castile and Leon may reach a peak in influenza incidence in the next two weeks, with a certain “care strain” due to the coexistence of this virus, SARS-CoV-2 and this virus. . However, there is no “collapse” and there is still room, with some hospitals reaching 75% occupancy and admitting 5,207 patients, while some health centers noticed pathological conditions, but mostly cited patients for less than 48 hours.

This was explained by Silvia Fernández, Director General of Health Aid, who appeared to meet with Health Minister Alejandro Vazquez at the end of a special meeting of the Regional Council of Castile and Leon (Alejandro Vázquez) reports together on the epidemiological situation in Castile and Leon. National Health System (CISNS). ).

This Tuesday, January 9, the Castile and Leon Health Sentinel Network will publish its latest report, which will include data from the first week of January, but everything points to an increase in the curve, exceeding 207 per 100,000 inhabitants cases from week 52. The advisor said these numbers are normal, even though these dates are historically less intense during flu seasons. “We’re at moderate intensity.”

However, because the curve will continue to grow and there are still weeks left to spread the virus, Vázquez encouraged target groups to get vaccinated as there is “vaccine fatigue” in some target groups, such as those over 10 years old. 60 years old. Flu vaccine coverage is 60% and covid-19 coverage is 50%. Furthermore, he lamented the low vaccination rate against influenza virus (40%) among children under five years of age.

Facing the coming weeks, counselors recalled that there was a winter contingency plan designed to plan and organize structural and organizational changes at the center in light of the increased pressure on care.

To this end, 155 inpatient beds and two geriatric intensive care unit beds have been put into use, and 800 primary and inpatient care professionals have been hired. In the second case, from nurses to nursing staff, TCAES, laboratory and ancillary testing staff, such as radiology staff.

Last week, continuing care sites were treating an average of 10 to 12 more patients a day than urban centers, which have more resources and a larger population and were treating an average of 100 patients a day. sky. In health centers, the nursing pressure increased to 29 patients, with only 38.4% of health centers having room for delays of more than two days. More than 60% of the 247 health service centers fulfilled their commitment to make appointments within 48 hours.

To this end, plans to strengthen primary care through excess consultations to cope with peaks in demand are maintained. Since December 18, there have been 632 family medicine consultations and 73 pediatric consultations.

Finally, the number of emergency cases in hospitals has shown a downward trend in the past three days, with 3,000 cases on Friday and an average decrease of 500 cases from Saturday to Sunday. Additionally, those bringing in income increased from 20% to 126%, Ical reported.