[ad_1]
Canton of Bern: homes and hospitals looking for staff
Homes and hospitals in the Canton of Bern are understaffed. According to a statement from the canton, many employees are in isolation or quarantine. The situation is reaching a critical point. It is said that one is urgently dependent on additional personnel.
In total, around 61 of the almost 300 homes in the canton are currently affected. 560 residents of the home are infected with the corona virus or there is a suspicion of infection. 455 out of a total of 13,000 people in the care sector are currently absent; sometimes half of the staff in a household cannot work because they are quarantined. Hospitals in the canton of Bern also have to complain about staff shortages: at the moment, around 200 employees are in isolation or quarantine.
The canton of Bern asks people with training or experience in the nursing and health professions who are no longer active today to help in homes and hospitals for a limited time. It has created a job placement platform for this purpose.
Johnson remains in quarantine despite negative test
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains in quarantine despite an initial negative corona test result. “According to the rules, he will remain in self-isolation,” said a government spokesman in London. Johnson went into quarantine Sunday night after an MP he met Thursday tested positive for the coronavirus.
Johnson himself was seriously ill with Covid-19 in the spring and was even treated in the intensive care unit. However, virologists do not rule out new infections in those who have recovered.
Johnson will continue his work from Downing Street via video and will answer questions from MPs on Wednesday, he said. The quarantine of the prime minister coincides with the crucial phase of the London negotiations on a trade pact with the EU.
Army resumes recruiting soon
The Swiss army resumes its conscription after a three-week break. As of November 23, those that must be deployed will be withdrawn again under strict protection conditions.
In addition to some special cases, such as overseas assignments, recruiting is exclusively for recruiting schools beginning January 18, 2021. For the RS summer, however, the draft has yet to take place.
Around 2,000 people are expected to be employed at the six recruitment centers by the end of the year. Protection measures are applied to them. A maximum of 50 people will now go through the recruitment cycle at the same time. Among other things, the army asks those forced not to travel in groups.
With the resumption, the army wants to keep its stocks. Cantons also depend on recruitment, because members of the civil protection are evacuated by them. On October 30, the army had suspended. In those days, the number of corona virus infections increased considerably.
Lucerne residents can now take the corona test by bike
Anyone who wants to get tested in a Lucerne drive-in can now ride a bike too. This is announced by the health department. Until now, access to the test sites in Lucerne, Nottwil and Entlebuch was only possible by car or motorcycle for security reasons.
In the Lucerne test center, rapid tests are mainly used instead of PCR tests. The test result is usually communicated to the examinees the same day by SMS. The Canton of Lucerne was looking for volunteers to run the drive-ins, among other things. In one week, nearly 100 people volunteered to take part in the fight against the pandemic, the health department wrote on Twitter.
The game of the Swiss soccer team is postponed
Due to crown cases in the Ukraine team, the match Switzerland – Ukraine will not be played today. The UEFA Nations League match should have originally taken place in Lucerne tonight. It is not yet clear when it will recover.
Will there be more massive tests soon?
About 10,000 more PCR tests were done last week than this week, says a journalist. There is no recognizable explanation for this, Masserey responds. “It would be better if the same number, and indeed many, people were continuously evaluated. Perhaps there are delays in the reporting system. We assume that rapid tests will increase the total number of tests. “
This ends the BAG press conference. Thanks for your interest.
Can rapid tests help reduce the positive rate?
Masserey: “If we did faster tests, the positive rate would decrease.” This could better control the epidemic. But it is up to the cantons to expand these capacities.
Preparing for ongoing vaccines
Masserey emphasizes that a great deal of logistical work is currently being done regarding vaccination. The army will be responsible for the storage and distribution of the vaccine in the cantons, adds Stettbacher.
When asked about a possible closure, experts evade. “If I had a strict lockdown, it would probably reduce the number of cases considerably. But you also run the risk of the numbers spiking huge again as soon as you relax. It is essential to avoid these yo-yo effects, ”says Masserey.
Are massive tests planned in Switzerland?
Is the BAG also considering mass testing, as Austria is currently considering? Masserey says that BAG will closely monitor what is happening abroad and then include the results in its deliberations. However, the currently available tests are not validated for mass testing.
The main objective: to prevent hospital overload
A journalist wants to know if the BAG is not disturbing the population with the renewed forecast of hospital congestion, which has not yet come true. Masserey emphasizes that forecasts are there to warn and not to happen. “The top priority is to prevent the hospital from being overloaded.”
Stettbacher adds: “The intensive care units are very busy, but they have accumulated additional reserves.” The situation is challenging.
Who should get vaccinated first?
Masserey says there is simply too little information available on potential vaccines at this time to say that. It is certainly important to protect risk groups first. Certainly no general vaccination requirement is provided; at most, the Epidemic Law establishes a vaccination requirement for certain groups of people, such as caregivers. Then you will have to look at it, nothing has been decided yet.
BAG expert asks for more patience
The most important thing is to keep your distance and limit contacts, says Masserey. How to achieve this, there are several measures. “Switzerland has chosen a middle ground. We limit activities as much as necessary, but we want economic and social life to develop as far as possible. The emerging decline in the number of cases is still not enough. But since there is a delay in deaths and hospitalizations, we need a little patience, ”says Masserey.
Do rapid tests work well?
Regarding rapid tests, he still can’t draw any conclusions, Masserey continues. It will probably take longer to be able to assess whether rapid tests are working well with family doctors. “I’m not aware that this should be particularly critical.”
Masserey: “Evidence that the measures are working”
The Scientific Task Force recommends additional measures, such as closing restaurants. Masserey from BAG says: “These are considerations that we constantly make. We observe the development of the data and consider what measures make sense. But that is a political decision. “
There are signs that the measures taken so far are already having an effect. “We assume that the slowdown is due to the measures. But what is decisive is the behavior of the population. “Be cautiously optimistic, says Masserey.
What is the current testing capacity?
Virginie Masserey says the testability is currently very high because she now has the rapid test. So there is actually more capacity than the amount of testing that is currently running. “We don’t really know why the number of tests is decreasing.”
Deaths take three weeks
The death rate is still very high. A journalist wants to know why so many people are currently dying in Switzerland while the infection rate appears to be decreasing. “There are so many deaths because it is a very serious disease. There is also a delay of around three weeks in hospitalizations and deaths. Then they appear a little later in the statistics, ”explains Masserey.
Andreas Stettbacher: “Certified intensive care beds are practically full”
Andreas Stettbacher from the Coordinated Health Service (KSD): “There are 876 certified intensive care beds in Switzerland.” There are currently 240 additional free and non-certified intensive care beds throughout Switzerland. These were created additionally. “Certified beds are practically full throughout Switzerland.” Patients from heavily used regions are increasingly being transferred to other regions. This ensures that reception capacity is guaranteed in all locations. “We call on hospitals to move 80% occupancy intensive care patients.”
Hospitals still have small reserves
In 150 acute care hospitals, the occupancy of beds is currently recorded twice a day and there are almost 24,000 beds throughout Switzerland, explains Andreas Stettbacher, delegate of the Federal Council for Coordinated Medical Service (KSD). “There are a total of 22,211 acute care beds, of which 16,889 are occupied. There is a 24 percent reserve. 21 percent of intensive care beds are still available. “
In both areas there was a slight increase in patients, Stettbacher continued. 18.7 percent of patients in acute beds are Covid 19 patients. In intensive care units, 60.2 percent of all patients have corona. The number of patients with a crown continues to increase in both areas.
Masserey: “We absolutely have to maintain the measures”
Virginie Masserey of the BAG says the situation in hospitals remains tense despite the stabilization of the number of infections. The number of people in intensive care continues to increase, although more slowly than before. “Therefore, we absolutely have to maintain the measures. It is still the only way to relieve pressure on the health system. “With such a high number of cases, contact tracing would also be very difficult in the cantons.
Masserey: “The situation continues to be worrying”
We welcome the live ticker on today’s federal press conference. The first to speak is expert Virginie Masserey, Head of the Infection Control Section of the Federal Office of Public Health.
“The number of new infections and reported hospitalizations remains high. The situation continues to be worrying “, emphasizes the expert. “However, we are seeing an initial stabilization, if not a slight decline.”
