The Covid epidemic under the Omicron variant is different from previous waves. It leads to less serious but numerous hospitalizations.
In public and private establishments in the Alpes Maritimes, the observation is much the same: patients go to the emergency room because they “don’t feel well” and “complain of great fatigue, shortness of breath and pain when breathing”. Sometimes they haven’t even tested positive for Covid yet. but their respiratory condition is degraded which requires hospitalization to receive oxygen therapy “explains Romain Alexandre, delegate for the Alpes Maritimes of the Regional Health Agency (ARS PACA).
Fewer resuscitations, more conventional hospitalizations
The ARS is recording today in the Alpes Maritimes 90 people in intensive care and intensive care i.e. 10 fewer patients in one week (precisely 47 are in intensive care and 43 in intensive care) and 251 people in so-called conventional hospitalization (up 20 since the day before), i.e. people who are cared for in medical or infectious disease departments.
Many entrances and exits
Managing the many arrivals and departures on a daily basis is always complicated for the teams: the incessant turnover, which varies greatly from one day to the next, requires strong mobilization. What also stands out adds Romain Alexandre: “the patients are younger than for the Delta variant, they are often between 40 and 50 years old, often without comorbidities. They are placed on oxygen to treat respiratory failure and pain. And when they leave the hospital, unlike at the start of the epidemic, there is less need to continue oxygen therapy at home. Omicron is not so banal, we very often hear a trivialization of the epidemic, which does not correspond to the reality in hospitals”.
Decline in new cases?
For the past few days, the number of daily cases of new contaminations has been falling slightly in the department, but this is not a clear decrease, unlike the Paris region. With for example on January 21: 6376 new cases recorded in one day (tested positive PCR and antigen test) and an incidence rate still at a record 4248.