Professor Dr. Gilles Pialoux, a French infectious disease specialist, warned of “an increasing number of cluster infections in public hospitals in Paris.” According to the infectious disease specialist and head of the Tenon public hospital in Paris, 18 foci of the new coronavirus were confirmed in January in five public hospitals in Paris alone.
As he prepares for the expected influx of patients with the British variant of the virus, Dr. Piro told the Parisian newspaper that more and more health care workers are being infected, especially by the more contagious British variant of the virus. As a result, fewer health care workers are able to work, and we even have to postpone some medical operations.
To the reporter’s question: Is the rapid spread of the British variant of the virus the result of infection in hospitals?
Professor Pirro pointed out that what we have noticed is that intensive care unit patients are crowding in faster than the rate of processing inpatients, which is a phenomenon we haven’t really seen since the outbreak.
We’ve observed an exceedingly alarmingly rapid progression in the number of people infected with the UK variant of the virus, he said. The amazing thing is that the first day they enter our infection unit, the next day, they are in the intensive care unit. However, studies are needed to prove whether this impression is accurate. Overall, we are all concerned about the influx of patients, and this variant of the virus has unfolded in large numbers, accounting for 30% of hospital admissions in Paris, compared to only 1% to 3% three weeks ago.
Dr. Piro pointed out that there are now variants of the virus in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil. Therefore, these viruses will not be controlled by natural human immunity and vaccines. This is a completely different situation from the first and second waves of the outbreak.
In Lisbon, 60 percent of the new coronavirus infections are British variants, he said. In Manaus, in the Brazilian Amazon, 76 percent of the population has been infected with the New Coronavirus, and the city will face another wave of outbreaks due to the Brazilian variant.
So we must take a closer look at our surroundings and not make the same mistakes that Italy made in February 2020, he said.
As for the other question: is the increased rate of infection among health care workers due to the variant of the virus?
Dr. Pirro answered that due to the increasing number of viral lesions in hospitals. On the one hand, health care workers are overworked and tired, and they slowly become less observant of the rule of keeping their distance. On the other hand, more of them are being infected by this variant of the virus that is much more disseminated. In January, a survey of only 5 public hospitals in Paris (Saint-Antoine, La Pitié-Salpêtrière, Charles-Foix, Tenon and Rothschild hospitals) showed 18 confirmed foci of new coronavirus infections. This corresponds to, 820 days of inoperability, and the closure of 120 beds!
Recent Comments