Between flu, Covid and gastrointestinal viruses, even in the province of Cuneo there are thousands of people in bed. With numbers that are not destined to go down, on the contrary. It is precisely between Christmas and New Year that the “double peak” of Covid and flu is expected.
But the numbers are already “heavy”. This is demonstrated by the accesses to the emergency room in Cuneo, which have grown by 15% since last December 23rd.
“From around 170/180 passages per day, we have gone to over 200, up to 220, in the last few days. We have a large number of people with flu symptoms, which has gone from 6 to 12%. And also many young people, affected by the gastrointestinal virus that is circulating. Nothing new compared to other years. With the holidays, social contacts increase. General practitioners stopped for four consecutive days. And therefore, those in need went to the emergency room. Instead, they decreased slightly pediatric accesses. With the closure of schools we expected it”, explains Dr. Giuseppe Lauria, director of Urgency and Emergency Medicine at the Cuneo hospital.
Even general practitioners are not doing any better. Before the four days of stoppage, from Saturday 23rd to yesterday Tuesday 26th December, they were under assault. And they were this morning too, as explained by Dr. Luciano Bertolusso, president of the Italian Federation of General Practitioners of the Cuneo section. “This morning I visited 40 patients. And I don’t think I’ll be able to do all the home visits I have on my agenda within the day”, he explains, quickly dismissing us. “With the addition of Covid and flu, we are in complete delirium.”
The confirmation also comes from Dr. Lorenzo Marino, doctor from Borgo San Dalmazzo and secretary of the provincial FIMMG. “Returning to work this morning was traumatic. We expected it, however. I want to underline that when we are not there there is the emergency medical service, which many have turned to. Colleagues have visited up to 80 people at day. Between visits, phone calls, emails and contacts, since this morning I have already managed around seventy people”, he explains.
What is scary is the severity of the symptoms. “Some, especially younger patients, we manage over the phone. But, if after three or five days things don’t improve, a visit is necessary. Not to mention that there are also chronic patients, who we can’t stop following” .
“The next few weeks will be very tough – concludes Marino. The peak has not yet arrived. Covid is circulating but has less worrying complications than in previous years, also for vaccines; for the flu, however, a large part of the population is not covered. If we add the fact that there is no longer any containment measure and that this is a period of get-togethers, dinners and meetings, it is inevitable that infections will be very high.”
2023-12-27 17:30:00
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