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Over 6,400 corona cases in Upper Austria, more COVID-19 patients in intensive care units than ever before – and now beds threaten to run out.
796 new infections in 24 hours in Upper Austria, 16,000 people are in quarantine. 344 people with corona are in hospitals, 35 in intensive care units, more than ever since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And now he threatens us to run out of intensive care beds!
Hospitals in Upper Austria have 243 intensive care beds, but currently only 63 are free, reports the “OÖN”. Of the 180 beds used, 35 are occupied by corona patients, but the number is very likely to continue to rise in the coming days. There is talk of up to 120. Then the beds would no longer be enough.
Postponed scheduled operations
Already on Tuesday the oö. The hospitals announced that they will postpone predictable operations to ensure there is sufficient capacity for corona patients and acute care.
A “drastic performance adjustment” is planned. “This will be done with the greatest possible consideration of the urgency and personal circumstances of the patients,” said Jens Meier (Director of the Clinic of Anesthesiology and Medicine of Operative Intensive Care at KUK), Bernd Lamprecht (Director of the Clinic of Pulmonary Medicine of the KUK) and Holger Rumpold (Head of the Visceral Cancer Center of the Ordensklinikum Linz) at a press conference.
And further: “We have decided to distribute COVID-19 patients evenly and proportionally to all hospitals in Upper Austria according to a certain formula,” said Lamprecht.
Lack of nursing staff
Another problem in Upper Austria. Hospitals: Lack of sufficient staff in intensive care units. “Normally an intensive care nurse takes care of two or three patients, COVID-19 patients are so careful that the care ratio is 1: 1, it quickly reaches its limits”, says Helmut Freudenthaler, president of the works council from the Linz MedCampus on the listed “OÖN”.
