Almost one in 3 patients positive for Covid-19 are hospitalized for other diseases. This is what emerges from the latest report of the sentinel hospitals of the Italian Federation of Healthcare and Hospital Companies (Fiaso), in which the inpatients were analyzed distinguishing between patients hospitalized for Covid, and therefore suffering from pulmonary and respiratory symptoms, and coronavirus positive but asymptomatic patients, hospitalized for other diseases. This report is for adults only.
Overall, in 19 of the Fiaso sentinel hospitals are 1949 patients hospitalized in Covid areas: 67.2% developed Covid disease and has lung and respiratory tract disease, while 32.8% of patients are positive, but are in the hospital to treat other diseases and in most cases they discovered that they were positive for Sars-CoV-2 only at the time of admission which includes the swab. More than two thirds of this last group of people hospitalized ‘with Covid’ was vaccinated – underline by Fiaso – and for this reason they were protected from the development of the disease, so much so that he ended up in the hospital for different pathologies. The data that emerges confirms the Fiaso study to which 6 large hospitals had joined and which had anticipated that a third of the admissions were composed of asymptomatic Covid, but with other pathologies.
However, the situation of resuscitations is different – the Federation specifies – where the weight of asymptomatic patients at Covid and suffering from other diseases is completely residual. In intensive care only 10% of pandemic coronavirus positive patients are hospitalized for other diseases: in particular, of these patients without Covid symptoms but positive for the virus, 36% ended up in resuscitation for a stroke, a heart attack or a cerebral hemorrhage; 27% arrived there due to internal failure; 18% following a trauma or an accident, and 13.6% are in a resuscitation bed for a non-postponable surgery to which they still had to undergo despite the positivity.
“For those who, despite being infected, need other treatments – highlights Milgliore – it is necessary to create multispecialist care settings. virus-positive patients cannot be assisted in the cardiology, neurology, orthopedic departments together with patients who have not been infected. We must therefore hospitalize them in dedicated facilities, where the different specialists can each intervene for their own skills. It is a great organizational and managerial challenge for our hospitals which – he concludes – also entails the need to increase the staff, creating a double path of care given that operators must wear overalls and protective masks to enter infected environments “.
UNDER 18 ADMISSIONS ARE GROWING
In the week 11-18 January, Covid patients under 18 admitted to hospital grow by 27.5%. The number of under 18 hospitalized went from 120 to 153, of which 10 in intensive care. Of the children and young people hospitalized, 34% are less than 6 months old. Overall, almost 2 out of 3 of hospitalized minors (61%) are under the age of 4 and are therefore in an age group that cannot be vaccinated, while 25% are between 5 and 11 years old.
Overall, the growth of Covid hospitalizations slows down in Fiaso sentinel hospitals. In one week, from 11 to 18 January, the increase was 7.1%: a much lower increase than the 32% acceleration recorded in the previous week (4-11 January). The survey was carried out on January 18 and concerns a total of 2,339 adult patients.
The report of 20 hospitals belonging to the Fiaso network therefore shows an increase in ordinary hospitalizations of approximately 7% and a slightly higher increase in patients in intensive care, equal to 9%. The age difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated remains: the former are on average 72 years old, the latter 66 years old.
TERAPIE INTENSIVE
In one week, even the growth in intensive wards in Fiaso sentinel hospitals shows a slowdown, compared to + 18% of hospitalizations in intensive care last week. For the most part, the no vaxes occupy the beds in the intensive care unit: 62% of the total number of non-vaccinated people admitted to intensive care.
“90% of the beds in resuscitation are occupied by those who developed the Covid disease and they are for the most part unvaccinated“says Giovanni Migliore, president of Fiaso, who comments on the latest report of the Italian Federation of health and hospital companies.” The evaluations on the organizational models and on the measures to be adopted – he underlines – cannot fail to take into account that patients in intensive care with Covid , therefore, with pulmonary symptoms, they are almost all and therefore the weight of the pandemic on intensive care continues to be strong. The resuscitation observatory, in fact, represents the real thermometer of the epidemic: the pressure determined by the virus – insists the Fiaso summit – is still important, for this reason measures and limitations aimed at curbing the circulation of the virus are still essential “.