Photo: Mojca-Peter via pixabay
Since December 21, 2022, there has been an official flu epidemic in the Netherlands. In the past two weeks, hospitals, general practitioners and nursing homes in Utrecht have been dealing with an increase in patients with the flu and absenteeism of healthcare staff. This means extra pressure on capacity in the healthcare chain, possibly resulting in more waiting time for patients. The rising trend of respiratory infections is now leading to extra vigilance among healthcare professionals. Acute emergency care is still guaranteed in our region.
In the two years of corona measures such as social distancing, the flu virus has had little chance of spreading among the population. These measures are now over and therefore the flu virus has more room to spread. At the end of the year, 70 people per 100,000 Dutch people had reported to their GP with flu-like symptoms. Nicolette Rigter is director of Public Health in the Utrecht region: “We ask our healthcare workers and patients who have received an invitation from their healthcare provider to (still) get the flu vaccination.”
In addition to the flu virus, other viruses are currently circulating that cause respiratory complaints, such as the RS virus, coronavirus, human metapneumovirus and rhinovirus. It is therefore extra busy in the entire healthcare chain. More people with flu-like symptoms come to GPs and there are more patients in isolation in nursing homes, care homes and hospitals. This is in addition to the care capacity that these institutions also provide.
A rising trend in the number of pneumonias is observed in a relatively large number of elderly people (65+ years). In addition, the RS virus is twice as common in young children as before the corona pandemic. Last week, the Dutch Association of Pediatrics (NVK) once again drew the attention of paediatricians to the possibility of spreading children across the region. That is not necessary at the moment.