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- Hospital beds should be exhausted in about two weeks.
Martin Ackermann, Chairman of the Covid Task Force, clarifies to the media in Bern. Nothing has changed about that. - Increasing the capacity of hospital beds will not solve the problem. It would only help to stop the exponential growth.
- Starting Monday, free corona rapid tests will be available at pharmacies and doctor’s offices.
“Unfortunately, the situation has developed last week as we expected in the forecasts,” said Ackermann. The government has ordered stricter measures, but these should only have an impact on hospitals in about ten days. “Unfortunately, this means that we have to take into account the fact that the capacities of our hospitals will be exceeded,” explains Ackermann.
Interventions are already being massively reduced
It would only help to stop the exponential growth. “If growth remains the same, 200 additional intensive care beds will give us exactly 32 hours,” Ackermann explained. You cannot fight exponential growth with linear measurements.
Non-emergency interventions are already being greatly reduced in several places. “This is a massive intervention in our healthcare system,” says Ackermann. For example, patients with tumors would have to wait for their operation.
The doctor’s offices are very busy
Exposure is also increasing in medical practices. It is becoming more and more complex to treat Covid patients separately from other patients, explains the doctor from the canton of Bern, Linda Nartey. Also, health workers get sick, who are then absent from treatment. This means that ensuring medical treatment is increasingly difficult.
Emergency patients do not respond
The trend is no different in psychiatry. Task Force Chair Ackermann: “We hope psychiatric care institutions will be under pressure.” Ackermann said he now needs “forward thinking care planning.” For example, it is important to think about financing rehabilitation. “Many Covid patients will need rehabilitation therapy.”
If we all understand the seriousness of the situation, we can improve it. If we give up, don’t do it.
Ackermann also noted that many emergency patients stayed home for fear of infection. This experience was seen in the spring during the first wave.
Less discipline than in spring
Ackermann made it clear that more closures may be necessary at the federal level. “If we all recognize the seriousness of the situation, we can improve it. If we give up, then no. “
Nartey stresses that it could be felt that discipline had decreased after the summer. This is also not the same as in spring. The population must now decide to be disciplined again in order to lower the curve.
Rapid tests starting Monday in pharmacies and doctor’s offices
Virginie Masserey, head of the Infection Control Section of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), also announced that rapid tests will be available in pharmacies and doctors’ offices starting Monday. The trial is free and results are available in 15 minutes. The results of the tests would be automatically transmitted to the FOPH, according to Masserey.
This would make around 50,000 tests available. Rapid tests would significantly increase capabilities and facilitate access to tests, Masserey emphasized. Rapid tests are recommended for people with symptoms, but not for risk groups.
