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Neurology department isolated, growing number of seriously ill patients
According to data from the National Center for Public Health on Wednesday, a total of 14 people infected with coronavirus were identified at the Republican Hospital in Šiauliai.
The director of the Remigijus Mažeika hospital reported at a press conference that the first fact of the disease was confirmed on Monday. A patient admitted to the Neurology Service of the hospital underwent a PCR test and was negative. The patient was treated in hospital for 10 days and is preparing to continue treatment in a nursing hospital. According to all the rules, the PCR test had to be repeated. Repeating it, the test returned a positive result.
“We have a lot of questions. We started testing the entire section. On Tuesday, COVID-19 had already been prescribed for 6 patients and 5 staff members. The condition of all patients is mild or asymptomatic, we would not even suspect that they have the virus” said the director.
Yesterday, two other physical therapists working with patients in the Department of Neurology were infected.
What has become the cause of this fireplace, no one can tell today. The director does not deny that the patient may have also been infected in the hospital, but may also have been admitted to the hospital during the incubation period of the disease, when tests have not yet shown the disease. R. Mažeika reported that 15 percent of the staff are prophylactically screened, but the 2,000 hospital employees cannot be screened.
R. Mažeika reported that the Department of Neurology is closed for two weeks, staff and patients are isolated. More than 80 potential contacts are being investigated.
The hospital director regretted that the disease had affected a ward with a very important group of treatment for stroke. He promised that the services would be saved. New neurological patients are admitted to the clean rooms of the Gastroenterology Department. Outpatient physicians and those who had no contact with the sick were mobilized.
One downside for patients is that scheduled outpatient visits will be delayed, but necessary care and hospital care for neurological patients will be maintained. The head of the medical institution emphasized that currently the priority is to preserve all the services provided by the hospital so that the institution does not have to close again.
R. Mažeika stated that the explosion of COVID-19 outbreaks in medical institutions may be due to the growing number of asymptomatic cases.
Yesterday, 12 coronavirus patients were treated at the Šiauliai Hospital. Five of them were given supplemental oxygen and one patient was resuscitated.
Sick ambulance staff
Eugenija Kukaitienė, director of the Šiauliai Ambulance Station of the public institution, announced that over the weekend, positive tests for COVID-19 had been detected for three employees of the Lyra Street substation. A total of 5 people from the GMP station were diagnosed with the disease on Wednesday. One of them feels worse, is hospitalized, the other is cared for at home. The southern district substation employed a total of 9 people, the others tested negative, but all were isolated for two weeks.
On Wednesday, a mobile brigade performed a PCR test on 92 employees at the Ambulance Station.
E. Kukaitienė reported that the personnel who provided ambulances to the people had already been examined up to 4 times. All tests were negative. When driving feverish patients, always wear a full set of protection: from masks to coveralls, disinfectants are used.
The manager explained that without the workers left in isolation, they will be separated. It will offer others additional on-call time or even reduce the number of brigades as there is currently not a large flow of patients. Express is 70 to 80 calls per day.
Will study at home, stand events
Specialists from the National Center for Public Health consider the situation in Šiauliai difficult. COVID-19 penetrates not only commercial companies, supermarkets, medical institutions, but also educational and cultural institutions. The premiere of the new performance of the Šiauliai State Dramatic Theater, which was brought from April to September 23, did not happen yesterday, as one of the theaters was forced to isolate itself when its son caught the coronavirus while visiting kindergarten.
Yesterday it was announced that the Ignitis service center in Šiauliai will be closed temporarily, because a COVID-19 infection was detected in the employees working at the customer service center.
The current situation forces the municipality of Šiauliai city to make decisions. The Emergency Situations Commission of Šiauliai City Municipality, which met yesterday, decided that all 6th to 12th grade students in the city would be transferred to distance education for two weeks. During the same period, non-formal education for children is suspended, with the exception of highly rated sports. There will be no events in town for two weeks. Those institutions that are ready for change will move to them today, others as of Monday.
