Public ward beds for Covid and flu are exhausted in BH

There are no more infirmary beds to care for patients with respiratory infections in the public health system in Belo Horizonte.

Bulletin released on Monday (3) by the city of Minas Gerais, with data for Sunday (2), points out that the hospitalization capacity for this type of treatment, which has 220 beds, has exploded and is at 107.3% .

The numbers refer to units initially intended for patients with Covid-19, but which also started to receive cases that could be influenza.

The Municipal Health Department states that the rate above 100% in the occupation of infirmary beds, aimed at less serious cases, “does not indicate that the excess number represents a queue”.

“These patients, in addition to 100%, are admitted to hospitals using all the resources that a patient with this profile needs, such as supplies and equipment”, says the secretariat.

The city has also registered a high in admissions for treatment by Covid in public ICUs (intensive care units).

In this Tuesday’s bulletin, the occupation of specific ICU beds for the disease in the public network was 78.8%, compared to 63.5% in the previous bulletin, on December 29 and released on the 30th.

The total number of ICU beds in the city’s public health network for patients with Covid is currently 104.

The advance in the occupation of nursing beds, which can be occupied both by patients with Covid and by those with influenza, also registered a significant increase in the same period. Before reaching 107.3% of the bulletin this Monday, it was at 90.5% in the bulletin on the 30th.

Unaí Tupinambás, an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Faculty of Medicine at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais), who is part of the Committee to Combat Covid-19 of the Municipality of Belo Horizonte, says that the discharge is related to end-of-year parties and trips.

For the specialist, especially in the next two weeks, attention will need to be paid to the impact of both Covid cases and flu in the service network. The scenario, he points out, is worrisome among the omicron variant.

The ease with which it transmits is really impressive,” he says. Tupinambás, however, believes in the possibility of milder cases of infected by the variant due to vaccination.

According to the Municipal Health Department, patients with flu as yet without a result for Covid-19 may be hospitalized in wards for those who have the coronavirus because the symptoms are similar.

The city has 4,251 public beds for non-Covid-19 illnesses. Occupancy, in this case, is 73%.

The private health network is less pressured in the city, but it also registers a high number of admissions in cases considered more serious. The occupation of ICU beds for Covid for this network was 41.2% in the report on Monday, against 39.2% in the report on the 30th. The total number of available units is 97.

In relation to nursing units in the private network, the occupation indicated in the bulletin this Monday was 42.7%, the same as registered in the bulletin released on the 30th. The total number of available units is 246.

Immunized

The city’s numbers on vaccination against Covid in Belo Horizonte indicate that the entire population over 12 years old in the city, a total of 2,199,135 people, has already received the first dose of vaccines against the disease.

The data also show that 93% of that total have already received the second dose or the single dose of immunizing agents. Regarding the booster dose, the percentage of those who have already gone through the stage is 24.2%.

The Department of Health states that the progress of vaccination in the city is one of the factors considered to assess the epidemiological scenario in the city, with the possibility of opening more beds if the situation worsens.

“Throughout the pandemic, always in accordance with the epidemiological and care indicators of the disease in the city, beds were opened in Covid and relocation to rear beds”, says the folder, in a note.