Coronavirus, with what symptoms to go to the hospital: “First aid in difficulty”

That the emergency room was a place used for emergencies is (should) be known, but especially in the time of the coronavirus, it is essential that it can really work in cases that need immediate and specific intervention: the call comes from Angelo Gratarola, Director Anesthesia and Resuscitation of the San Martino Polyclinic Hospital.

Gratarola, with his degree, is at the forefront in the management of the San Martino emergency service, which in recent days, like Galliera and Villa Scassi, has been in trouble: too many accesses, most with symptoms of covid and in most they are not serious enough to require hospital support. Few red codes, those of greater severity, many yellow codes and many green ones, that is, those of less severity. That in normal periods they can also be handled in the emergency room, although unnecessarily, but that in these weeks they become a very serious problem.

The problem is twofold: on the one hand, there are those who have symptoms attributable to the coronavirus and, scared by the possible course, go to the hospital. On the other hand, those with the same symptoms cannot get a swab quickly and therefore decide to go to the emergency room in the hope that the test will be done there. But the direct consequence is that healthcare professionals find themselves handling hundreds of cases a day, and often do not require assistance of this kind. Especially because in this period it is not excluded to be in the presence of a flu syndrome, which from the point of view of the symptoms differs little from the coronavirus (obviously speaking of mild symptoms) but is very different in terms of treatment.

“The emergency room is a resource that clearly has limits, it cannot receive the entire population of Genoa – explains Gratarola – to keep it alive and vital, it is necessary to make distinctions autonomously.”

Flu or coronavirus, symptoms and when to go to the hospital

Gratarola explains that patients who have flu symptoms, and therefore fever, myalgia, headache, red eyes, a little cough, but who do not have any respiratory problems and it is not difficult for them to breathe, suffer from the syndrome. influenza, «identical to what the seasonal forms usually are. If it is due to covid or another virus, it does not matter, if the symptoms are that it is not necessary to go to the emergency room and flood the emergency system. Only those with respiratory problems should come: the other cases should stay at home, put in quarantine, try not to infect others and contact the family doctor.

The system, Gratatola emphasizes again, “is not capable of absorbing everything that is in the territory: once the patient has entered the emergency room, it takes hours, just in case, to discharge: you have to do tests and analysis, dedicating time and staff, perhaps for a disease that can be safely treated at home. “

The consequences of much confusion can be seen in practice: dozens of ambulances queued, out of beds, public assistance forced to be trapped in the hospital because the stretcher is used for the patient they have accompanied and who is waiting. On Friday morning, in Galliera, it happened to a Green Apple Cross ambulance: he left at 3 in the morning for a non-covid rescue, at 9 he was still detained because the patient still had to do triage and the stretcher was used to house it.

“I will clarify one thing even to those who think that to do a quick swab you only have to go to the emergency room – Gratarola continues – When doing it, it is a cat that bites its tail, and we explode the system, because that way the medicine is not used, especially the emergency one. If all the people who have any symptoms go to the emergency room, the system cannot hold: first aid is only for urgency and emergency, and not for swabbing. That is what the drive through is for, and those who cannot travel go to the Local Health Authority, although with expectations that can nevertheless be managed from home.

Going to the emergency room, Gratarola concludes, implies spreading the virus if one tests positive, and the risk of contracting it if you do not have it: “The risk is run when a person is sick: if he only has a fever and headache, go to the emergency room” . help is useless and harmful.

Finally, a clarification: «On Thursday night there was a strange news about the closure of the San Martino rescue bridge: I say it clearly, it is stupid. No emergency room was closed, we had delays in the morning due to the heavy influx, but no emergency room was ever closed, this is a lie that nevertheless generates alarm, agitation and fear in people. I repeat – Gratarola concludes – at this time, in order not to make the whole system suffer, people with flu symptoms should stay at home and isolate themselves, not go to the emergency room: it would not contribute anything to their treatment.