[ad_1]
During Wednesday’s press conference with infection control physician Thomas Wahlberg and director of health and medical care Ann Söderström, it emerged that in the past week there has not been such a rapid increase in the number of new covid-19 cases. as in previous weeks.
– We see a slight slowdown. For us in the healthcare sector, it’s hard to say if we’ve reached a peak yet, but we see that the steep part of the curve has leveled off, says Ann Söderström.
She points out that the proportion of people who are in and need IVA care is lower than last spring.
– Of course, it is good because it means the greatest burden for care. But 250 seriously ill people in need of hospital care is also a heavy burden, he says.
The figures have stabilized
On Wednesday morning, there were 251 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in one of the hospitals in the Västra Götaland region. Of these, 37 people were treated in the intensive care unit.
Ann Söderström explains that the figures for Sahlgrenska University Hospital stabilized and remained stable over the past week, while Skaraborg Hospital and Södra Älvsborg Hospital recorded strong increases.
– Skaraborg has more hospitalized patients than last spring, he says.
The Västra Götaland region has attempted to make a forecast for the development of corona infection and presented a cautious prognosis for the next few months during the press conference.
– We do our best to see if we can predict what this will be like in the future, says Ann Söderström.
The basis is the forecast of the Public Health Agency this summer, which is based on a higher level of number of patients.
But the Västra Götaland region has made its own calculations according to the conditions here.
– We were not at the high level when they made the forecast. By then in the Västra Götaland region we had already reduced the number of people hospitalized. Based on what our data looked like with lower levels this summer, we have calculated the increase that the Public Health Agency has calculated, explains Ann Söderström.
The upper gray curve is the Public Health Agency estimate and the lower curve is the Västra Götaland region estimate.
The middle curve in color shows the current position.
Forecast: clear peak in December
The curves show a clear peak in the number of people hospitalized in December, and that the number of patients falls dramatically in the latter part of the month. The curve continues downward in January and February to stabilize in early March.
She notes that the prognosis is uncertain:
– We have to be incredibly careful when making estimates. Nobody can know what is happening.
Ann Söderström still states that she feels hopeful:
– We see that the number of cases in the region was a little lower last week compared to the previous week. There are many signs that we are beginning to enter a plateau phase.
– We hope to have a development as favorable as this indicates. But to continue to see flattening with fewer cases, everyone is required to follow the rules of conduct so that the spread of the infection does not increase again.
See also:
Do you need to be vaccinated if you have had covid-19?
