Capitals have up to 80% greater demand in infirmary and PS by Covid and flu

Brazilian capitals have registered an increase of up to 80% in demand in emergency rooms and wards of public and private hospitals with cases of flu and Covid since the end of the year. Part of those admitted to ICUs (intensive care units), according to states, did not take a vaccine against the coronavirus.

Fortaleza has 84% ​​occupancy in public infirmary beds. The escalation of the indicator led the government of Ceará to announce new restrictive measures, such as reducing the capacity of events, and suspending elective surgeries in the state network.

In Bahia, there was an increase in demand for ICU beds after Christmas and New Year’s Eve in the SUS, throughout the state, and in the private network of Salvador. According to the State Department of Health, more than 80% of those admitted to ICUs have not taken the Covid vaccine.

At the Spanish Hospital, the largest for treating Covid in Salvador, the occupancy rate of the 160 beds has risen from 30% to 65% in the last six weeks. “This number will continue to grow because people flocked to the end-of-year festivities”, says Rômulo Cury, director general of the hospital.

In the municipal network, there is a confluence of demands for hospitalization. In addition to the increase in cases of Covid-19 and flu, there is also pressure from patients with vascular, heart and even oncological problems whose conditions worsened during the pandemic.

“The municipal health system has never lived such a bad moment, so chronic. We are adding problems because we have worsened chronic patients and, at the same time, a pressure from patients with respiratory syndromes”, says the Secretary of Health of Salvador, Leonardo Prates.

The greatest pressure is on the Emergency Care Units of the state and municipal networks in Salvador. Patients with milder symptoms are being advised to look for basic health units.

The devastation caused by the rains in the interior of the state, says the secretary, has aggravated the problem, since part of the patients undergoing treatment in cities in the interior resorted to the health system of the capital.

To top it off, there is concern about outbreaks of dengue and chikungunya. The mosquito infestation rate Aedes aegypti is ten houses out of every hundred visited by health workers. “It’s a very high rate,” says Prates.

Until Wednesday (5), in Pernambuco, the occupancy of infirmary beds was 74% in the public network, for cases of Srag (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). In the private network, the indicator was 27% occupancy in infirmary beds for people with respiratory problems.

In Aracaju, the number of people treated for flu syndrome in the first five days of January reached 4,545, about a third of what was registered in the entire month of December. The demand for hospitalization, however, was not high.

In Rio de Janeiro, bed occupancy is relatively low so far, despite the high pressure in basic and emergency units. Public hospitals in the city had only 33 hospitalized for Covid in wards and ICUs this Thursday (6), which represent 39% of beds dedicated to the disease.

In the private network, the situation is the same, according to Graccho Alvim, director of Aherj, the main association of hospitals in the state. “We estimate about 15% occupancy across the state, but we are expecting an increase for the next 15 days, because cases have risen precisely from Monday. [3]”, it says.

According to him, emergencies are quite “turmoil”, with an increase of up to 220% in attendance this week, however, the cases are rarely serious. Most hospitalizations have been of unvaccinated people and babies aged six months to a year with bronchiolitis from Covid or influenza, he says.

In Teresina, the occupancy rate of public and private clinical beds doubled, from 28% to 56%, in the last two weeks, compared to the dates of December 20 and January 6. Currently, there are 57 inpatients for 102 existing vacancies.

In Maceió, the number of beds for Covid and Influenza was increased. As of this Thursday (6), 86 infirmary beds are in operation, compared to 54 before. Currently, 43 of them are occupied, which corresponds to 50% of the total.

In Florianópolis, the University Hospital of UFSC (Federal University of Santa Catarina) issued a statement on Wednesday (5) due to the overcrowding of its emergencies.

There was a high of up to 380% of visits to patients with respiratory symptoms throughout the month of December until Monday (3). “The situation places emergencies at the limit of their technical capacity,” the note reads.

The private hospital Baía Sul, also in Florianópolis, and Unimed Florianópolis had already warned about the greater demand for emergency care.

According to state data, the bed occupancy rate for Covid-19 patients in Greater Florianópolis reached 78.9% on Wednesday (5). On the 1st, this same rate was 73%.

In Curitiba, after the holidays, Santa Casa also reported an increase in visits to patients with respiratory symptoms in its units. The specialist in the treatment of Covid-19 has 60% of beds occupied – on January 1, the rate was 30%. Most patients, however, do not need an ICU.

At the Evangelical Hospital, there was no discharge from hospitalization, but the demand was greater in the emergency care for cases of mild respiratory symptoms.

The Pequeno Príncipe Hospital, in Curitiba, had two children with Covid-19 hospitalized on Monday (3). They were the first admissions for the disease recorded at the hospital since December 10.

In the hospital, in the first days of 2022 alone, four other children were hospitalized because of the flu. This number is the same recorded throughout 2021. In all, 31 patients from Pequeno Príncipe in 2022 had been infected by influenza. In all of 2021, there were 33.

In Porto Alegre, according to state data, bed occupancy has remained stable since the end of the year, but at PUCRS Hospital São Lucas, the number of visits increased by 203% comparing the first days of 2022 with the visits in December.

In Goiânia, the occupancy rate in the wards reached 60% this Thursday, compared to 32% at the end of December.

According to Ahpaceg (Association of High Complexity Private Hospitals in the State of Goiás), the number of people who go to emergency rooms with flu-like symptoms has grown significantly in recent weeks.

In Campo Grande, 45.8% of the wards for respiratory disease are occupied. In Cuiabá, there are 20 infirmary beds aimed at patients with Covid, only two of which are occupied.

In the North region, in Manaus, 43 of the 98 public clinical beds for Covid-19, or 44%, are occupied. According to the state government panel, occupancy is 14% in the city’s private network — five out of 30 beds are in use.

In Pará, the bed occupancy rate for Covid is 36.4%. In Belém, flu cases are treated in the same beds as other diseases. Separation is exclusive to Covid cases.

Of the 14 inpatient beds, other than ICU, separated for Covid-19, nine were occupied until Thursday afternoon (6).

Rio Branco currently has only ten clinical beds for Covid-19 in the public network, but demand is also low. Only two of them are busy.

In Boa Vista, the closing of 109 clinical beds at the Covid Rearguard State Hospital caused the occupancy rate to skyrocket. Today there are only 11 infirmary beds for adults in the capital, of which eight, or 73%, are occupied.