Mutated viruses make younger people sick

ULLEVÅL (Dagbladet): The British variant of the corona virus gives a 2.6 times higher risk of being hospitalized with COVID-19, FHI and NRK reported Monday night. This also applies to young adults, which is noticeable at Ullevål hospital in Oslo. Here 40 patients were admitted on Tuesday: 30 in the ward and 10 in the intensive care unit.

Nationwide, the number of new admissions in week 11 for patients with covid-19 as the main cause is now 264. The number of new admissions to the intensive care unit has increased dramatically since last week, and it is for the week 11 to now 43 The number has more than doubled since March 4, when there were 111 hospitalized in Norway.

– Patients now in intensive care are somewhat younger than patients in the first and second phase, says Anne Bøen, head of anesthesia and intensive care physicians at Ullevål hospital in Oslo.

In Dagbladet’s experience, the number is now higher, as Ullevål noticed a sharp increase in patients on Tuesday.

Mutated virus

Until the first half of February of this year, the average age of those with a ventilator in the intensive care unit was 57 years. Now things may indicate that patients are getting younger, also in the intensive care unit.

Based on Dagbladet’s experience, there is now a patient in the intensive care unit who is under 40 years old and has no underlying disease.

– We have now admitted children to the ward with covid disease. We didn’t have that in the previous phase. More children have been discharged and we expect younger patients to tolerate it better than older ones. The older you get, the less you can tolerate getting seriously ill, as you tend to have more underlying illnesses than younger people, Bøen says.

At Ullevål Hospital, all admitted COVID patients are now assumed to have the mutated British virus.

– We relate to the fact that now everyone has the mutated virus, so we can almost stop talking about mutated or non-mutated, says Bøen.

FHI concerned

NIPH refers to research findings that young adults are at increased risk of hospitalization with the mutated British virus.

– We are concerned about the development with high infection rates, especially in light of new knowledge about an increased risk of severe course and an increased risk of hospitalizations with the English variant, says Line Vold, director of the FHI department.

It adds that NIPH “has therefore recommended adjusting now before Easter to reduce the risk of a further increase in infection during Easter.”

– We now have 20 hospitalized patients in the age group of 30 to 39. The number has increased, but the numbers have not finally been resolved, says Line Vold, department director at FHI.

Sharp increase

At Ullevål Hospital, they divide the covid-19 period into three: in the first phase, from March to June last year, they had around 50 patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit, with an average age of 57-58 years . In the second phase, from September last year to the first half of February this year, they also had the same number, 50, in the same age group.

– It seems that now we get more, and that this will last longer. So far, there is not much difference in the average age, but I think it will eventually be a lower average age, says Bøen.

Figures from FHI show that new admissions to the intensive care unit have increased dramatically in the last week.

– There is an increase of 29 patients admitted to the intensive care unit in week ten, and the highest number since week 13 of last year, says Vold and points out that there will be new weekly numbers tomorrow Wednesday.

This is, therefore, the reason why FHI has “advised the government to toughen up by taking measures that reduce the risk of people gathering, both in private, at events, and in other places where many normally gather in Holy Week”.

FHI expects the numbers to stabilize, but is now closely monitoring the spread of the most contagious variants, such as the British mutant.

– We should see the impact of the strict measures soon, and the infection figures now tell us a lot about how contagious this new variant of the virus is. Further development will depend on the spread of the new, more infectious variants, the level of measures and, above all, how we all comply with infection control regulations. Clearly there is a risk of further spread of the infection in the future and especially in relation to Easter, and there may be a tightening precisely to reduce this risk, says Vold.