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The number of corona patients in Stockholm hospitals has declined this week, for the first time during the second wave of autumn.
Chief physician Johan Bratt is concerned that he will cause residents to let go of the restraints over Christmas.
– If that happens, the curve will immediately turn upward again, he says.
The spread of the infection has continued to increase in the Stockholm area throughout the fall.
This has led to a steeply rising curve in the number of hospitalized corona patients, but in recent weeks the rate of increase has slowed.
In recent days, the need for care has even decreased a bit, for the first time during the second wave of the pandemic. On Tuesday, the total number of patients was 782 in the Stockholm Region. By Friday, that number had dropped to 748.
The trend break is welcome for a struggling healthcare system, but healthcare management dares not breathe a sigh of relief.
– It is too early to draw conclusions from a reduced increase in a few days. It can be a plateau that can then go up or down. It all depends on how county residents acted about 2-3 weeks ago, says chief physician Johan Bratt.
Photo: Henrik Montgomery / TT
Johan Bratt, Chief Medical Officer, Stockholm Region.
Increase in intensive care
At the same time, the number of confirmed infections continues to rise. The same applies to the number of corona patients in the intensive care unit: 72 on Tuesday against 82 on Friday.
The intensive care unit at Karolinska University Hospital will now be strengthened with staff from Blekinge.
– Our assessment is that we will have to serve the largest number of covid patients in the coming weeks, perhaps the number will even increase. All our county residents must now wonder if the mulled wine party or trip to the mall is so important that it is worth exposing their lives and the lives of others to risk, says health and healthcare director Björn Eriksson .
Chief physician Johan Bratt is also concerned despite the broken trend.
– The risk is that more people reason that they can put aside precautionary measures and return to having a greater number of contacts, which many long for during Advent and Christmas, he says.
Photo: Anders Wiklund / TT
The risk is that the spread increases during Christmas.
Highest increase in the age group 40-49 years
According to Johan Bratt, the fact that the number of patients seen is decreasing despite the increased spread of the infection may be due to the fact that the virus is currently spreading more in younger age groups.
In the last week, it is those between 40 and 49 years of age who are increasing the most. They are at a lower risk of a more serious course of the disease and therefore means that there is a little less in need of hospital care. Unfortunately, there is a great risk that these are the ones that spread the infection and then we may see a rapid increase again, says Johan Bratt.
– What worries me is that a further spread of the infection will sooner or later spread to the elderly, especially in the events of Advent, Lucia and Christmas. Then we will have a very serious situation at the beginning of the new year.
Between Tuesday and Friday, 94 new deaths with covid-19 were reported in the Stockholm region. The total number during the pandemic is 2,793 people in the capital.
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