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Some hospitals in Upper Austria are already at capacity limits, such as the News from Upper Austria reported. Jutta Oberweger, spokesperson for Upper Austria. Health Holding confirmed this to KURIER and gave an outlook for the next few days. It shouldn’t look particularly good right now. Because with 400 hospitalizations of corona patients on Friday, a new record was reached in the state. Especially when it comes to the use of intensive care beds in hospitals, the situation is expected to worsen.
One fifth is in intensive care
“We know from experience that about 15 to 20 percent of corona patients deteriorate between the fifth and seventh day of their hospital stay and must be transferred to the intensive care unit,” explains Oberweger. As of Friday, intensive care beds are in Upper Austria. The national average for hospitals is 70 percent full. According to Oberweger, at a capacity of 80 to 85 percent we speak of full capacity. “The reason for this is that we always have to clear the beds for unplanned events such as serious accidents, strokes, heart attacks,” said the KURIER spokeswoman. But there are also regional differences, hence the Upper Austria reference. Some hospitals in Linz are already at capacity limits, “there the utilization is already over 80 percent,” says Oberweger.
Employment in Austria increased by four percent
According to the indicators for the corona traffic light risk classification published on Friday, the occupancy of intensive care beds in Austria increased four percentage points in one week. On Wednesday of the previous week, 7.3 percent of the beds were occupied, this Wednesday it was 11.2 percent. In absolute numbers, the acreage caused by Covid-19 intensive care patients increased from 147 to 224 during this period. The highest occupancy was in Vorarlberg with 21.6 percent.
In the westernmost federal state, the proportion of occupied intensive care beds increased by 7.9 percentage points in one week. In Vienna, the occupancy rate was 15.9 percent on Wednesday, after 12.6 percent the previous week. In Upper Austria, 13.6 percent of intensive care beds were occupied, also a significant increase compared to seven days earlier, when 7.8 percent was reported.
The Nursing Association fears “maximum overload”
In view of the increasing number of corona patients, the Austrian Health and Nursing Association (ÖGKV) and the Federal Task Force for Intensive Care and Anesthesia warned on Friday of a “maximum overload” of hospitals. The national health system is not designed for a pandemic. The main problem is not the lack of intensive care beds or ventilators, but the lack of medical and nursing specialists. Also the information of Upper Austria. The reason for the impending staff shortage is that about 50 percent more staff are needed at a Covid station than at another station, he explained. Bernd Lamprecht, Head of the Pneumology Clinic at Kepler University Hospital in Linz (KUK) – That mainly has to do with protective equipment.
Operations are postponed
To compensate for regional differences, efforts are being made in Upper Austria to distribute patients between hospitals. The goal is to counter the threat of a shortage of intensive care beds by postponing operations. “With some serious operations, we already know in advance that patients will have to be treated in the intensive care unit. We closed these planned interventions to keep the intensive care beds free,” says Oberweger.
“Serious situation” also in Tyrol
Even from Tyrol it was said a few days ago that the situation was “quite serious”, according to Governor Günther Platter (ÖVP) and the infectologist and director of the University Clinic of Internal Medicine in Innsbruck, given the growing number of patients with Covid- 19 in hospitals. . “We must do everything possible to prevent the virus from spreading uncontrollably, especially in older population groups and among people at risk, so as not to push our healthcare system to the limit of what is possible,” Weiss explained. While at the end of last week 107 people infected with corona were being treated as hospitalized patients, eight of them in the intensive care unit, by Tuesday there were already 152 people, 18 of them in intensive care.
Lower Austria creates additional bed capacity
The number of intensive care patients in Lower Austrian state clinics doubled from 23 to 46 last week. As Deputy Governor Stephan Pernkopf (ÖVP) announced on Friday, 266 people suffering from Covid-19 are currently hospitalized in Lower Austria. The peak during the so-called first wave was 217. Pernkopf now wants to create more bed capacity in hospitals. However, it also points to the “limiting factor” of the specialized trained personnel that is needed.
