Healthcare workers in the South Moravian Region have spoken out about the pressure they are under preparing for the effects of the new variant and having to deal with increased cases in the country.
Professor Vladimir Sramek, who is Regional Intensive Care Coordinator for the South Moravian Region, has warned that the impact of the Omicron variant has yet to hit the already stretched hospitals here, but warns he is expecting pressure in the coming weeks.
While at this current moment in time, he says that the proportion of those requiring hospitalisation with the new variant remains about the same compared to other new variants which have been previous concerns, he predicts hospitalisations are soon going to drastically increase.
“I am expecting a plateau of high numbers of hospitalised patients for the next 2-3 weeks,” said Sramek.
Staff on the Covid wards here are already working incredibly hard, exposed to trauma and stress, to serve patients dealing with the worst effects of the virus.
With so many patients being admitted now, hospitals in the region are also having to postpone planned operations to focus on those that are covid positive.
Hospital staff claims they are seeing a lot of unvaccinated people ending up in hospital.
“Currently, there are up to 60% on standard wards, 70% in the ICUs,” explained prof Sramek.
He has warned that the Delta variant is highly infectious which is, together with the fact that there is only 60% vaccination in the whole population, the main reason for the current high numbers of Covid19 positive patients. Hospitalisation is only expected to increase with the new Omicron cases.
This is a concern since in the South Moravian region, for example, Covid19 positive patients fully saturate 2/3 beds, which would normally be used for patients requiring mechanical ventilation.
At the minute, staff there are trying their hardest to maintain high patients’ turnover (where they are released home well as soon as possible) to keep free beds available for new admissions.
While he does not think a full lockdown is needed, Sramek believes partial tightening (no social events etc,) could help stop pressure on hospitals.
He is also urging the public to get vaccinated and stay protected by keeping low social contact and respecting the current measures.
