Flu outbreak causes city hall in SP to change employees’ vacations, union says

The vacations of part of the employees of the Health of the City of São Paulo were rearranged due to the increase in cases of flu and the increase in demand in hospitals and emergency rooms.

Of the approximately 720 servers scheduled for vacation between December and January, 100 had their rest date changed.

According to Lourdes Estevão, secretary of the health workers portfolio of Sindisep-SP (Union of Workers in Public Administration and Municipalities in the City of São Paulo), the matter was discussed at a meeting held this Tuesday (14), between members of the Secretariat Municipal Health and trade unionists in the sector.

At the time, medical Marilande Marcolin, Executive Secretary for Hospital Care, stated that the city has been experiencing an outbreak of influenza A H3N2 since December 5th and that not only hospitals, but also AMAs (Ambulatory Medical Assistance) and UPAs ( Emergency Care Unit) are crowded with cases of flu, including serious ones.

In a statement, the Municipal Health Department denied that the reason for the rearrangement of the dates is the flu outbreak. “The readjustment of the vacation schedule for employees at the folder was routinely carried out to ensure general assistance throughout the network during the holiday period,” says the text sent.

On the other hand, the folder admitted that, in the last week, there was a significant increase in people with flu-like illness in their health units.

In November 2021, 111,949 consultations of patients with flu-like symptoms were registered, 56,220 of which were suspected of Covid-19.

In the first half of December, there were 91,882 consultations with a respiratory condition, 45,325 of which were suspected of Covid-19.

Changes to the server’s vacation calendar have already been made at other times of great demand in health, says Flávia Anunciação, from the executive board of Sindsep-SP. In 2020, she says that, because of the Covid pandemic, some workers also had their vacations changed and even cancelled.

In 2021, so far, the municipality has notified 119,873 cases of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), requiring hospitalization. Of these, 205 (0.2%) were caused by the influenza virus —20 (9.8%) were positive for influenza A (H1N1) pdm09A, 4 (3.8%) for seasonal influenza A H3, 134 (34.3 %) for influenza A (not subtyped) and 47 (19.9%) for influenza B.

Last year, there were 120,850 hospitalized SARS cases, of which 242 were classified as influenza. It is important to clarify that in 2020 and 2021 the SRAG cases include the Covid-19 suspects.

“The information that the city gave us was that there was a surplus of employees on vacation as planned. Even if they want to deny it, in addition to the flu, we have the issue of the new variant of Covid-19”, says Estevão, referring to the micron .

“What worries us is that we have a workforce that, due to the pandemic, are exhausted. These employees need vacations, not least because of the consequences of Covid. We have a very high number of workers who were contaminated by Covid. We in the health area feel the reflex of the sequelae: anxiety, Burnout syndrome, depression, forgetfulness, cognitive capacity”, he adds.

For Anunciação, there is a use of “labor until exhaustion”. “The servers carried out two campaigns, from H1N1 and Covid, and had their workload increased, working on Saturdays with a single day off on Sunday. Part of them has a double bond. There is a lack of planning and a careful look at their rest,” he says.