Facts: Patients with covid-19
The increased spread of infection during the summer has led to an increased number of patients with covid-19 in both regular care wards and in intensive care.
A total of 821 are cared for in some type of care department, of which 12 are patients on iva, according to the National Board of Health and Welfare’s latest update. Four regions report that they have patients with covid-19 on iva: Halland, Dalarna, Skåne and Östergötland. However, information is missing from several regions, including Stockholm.
The number who die with covid-19 is also increasing, but it is happening from low levels.
Sources: The National Board of Health and Welfare and the Public Health Agency.
The spread of covid-19 has increased sharply in recent weeks – and the trend is continuing, according to the Public Health Agency’s latest update published on Thursday. During week 31, around 5,800 new cases were reported, an increase of 12 percent compared to the week before.
And that has an impact on healthcare.
According to the National Board of Health and Welfare’s latest update, 821 patients with covid-19 are being cared for in care units around the country, including in intensive care, which is 45 more than the previous week. However, the figures do not show how many people are treated for covid-19, and how many are hospitalized for other ailments but at the same time tested positive.
The increase also contributes to the fact that the situation is strained in many ways, says Maria Hilberth, acting head of department at the National Board of Health and Welfare.
— The regions describe an increased load, but this is not only due to covid, but also to the fact that it is vacation time and staffing is difficult at the same time as employees are sick with covid, says Maria Hilberth.
From low levels
She emphasizes that the increase in patients with covid-19 is occurring from low levels and is nowhere near previous peaks during the pandemic.
— The figures have also not changed during the three weeks that the reporting has been ongoing, which feels safe.
The situation looks different in different parts of the country. The number of patients with covid-19 has increased in around half of the country’s regions in the past week, including Skåne, Västernorrland, Dalarna and Stockholm.
In Region Skåne, 157 patients are cared for in some care department, including in iva. That is 24 more than the previous week. But so far it has not meant a clearly more pressured situation, says Fredrik Månsson, senior physician at the infectious disease clinic at Skåne University Hospital in Malmö.
— The situation is still quite stable. In the majority of cases, it concerns patients who are treated for other reasons but who have tested positive for covid-19. Only a few patients get seriously ill from covid now, because most are either vaccinated or have had the disease and have good immunity, he says.
“Big Puzzle”
According to him, the biggest challenge right now is to isolate the covid patients, in single rooms or in halls together with each other.
— Right now we are solving it through a lot of puzzle-solving, but it is on the margins. But that problem right now cannot be blamed on covid, but is more about the chronic lack of care places that prevails in general.
Although there is a risk that the spread of infection will gain further momentum this autumn, he does not believe that the burden on healthcare will be overwhelming.
— It is probably countered by the fact that more care places are opened again after the holidays, and that few become seriously ill now. But everything is fraught with a measure of uncertainty – we constantly see new virus variants and must be vigilant, says Fredrik Månsson.