Covid, doubled positives in the Belluno area, “but the health system holds”

In 24 hours it has gone from 246 to 440 cases: «Given the few hospitalizations, the hospital activity goes on. Arrears recovered “

BELLUNO. In the Belluno area we went from 246 to 440 positives in one day: almost double in 24 hours. Numbers that would put any health system in crisis if there had not been a year of vaccinations. In fact, hospitalizations for Covid are still very low, both in intensive care and in specific wards.

It is this data, that of hospitalization, which the general director of the Ulss Dolomiti, Maria Grazia Carraro, looks at, who has drawn up the balance of a year of activity, starting precisely from the new cases.

«The weekly incidence, cases per 100 thousand inhabitants, is growing. In the week from 22 to 29 December we reached 548 positives, however below the national figure, 644. Currently in the province there are over two thousand positives and 3075 people in isolation. The difference compared to a year ago is that the admissions are limited, four in intensive care, 31 in non-critical areas and 12 in the community hospital, “explained Carraro.

«The vaccine was fundamental», Carraro continues, «it does not protect so much from the risk of contagion, but from serious consequences. It’s like the flu shot we’ve been doing for years: it doesn’t guarantee you won’t get the flu, but the virus strikes in a mild form ».

The vaccine doses injected in the Belluno area are now close to 377 thousand, among the over 12s, 85 percent have completed a complete cycle and 87 percent have at least one dose. Between the ages of 5 and 11 there are already 1180 children vaccinated, while the third doses have so far affected 77 thousand Belluno people, with coverage of 82 percent for those over 80 and 81 percent for those over 70.

“During the holidays I hope that there has been an assumption of responsibility in everyone, in applying prevention measures, masks and hand washing, in airing the rooms, avoiding gatherings and paying attention to people frail, elderly or with illnesses “added the chief executive officer.

Such a significant increase in positives day by day makes tracking difficult, Carraro admits: «We tried to reinforce the structure, but it is clear that this service is under pressure. According to the data we have, the new positives are concentrated in two main groups, children and adults, that is their parents ».

That the situation is still better on the hospital front than a year ago is also shown by the number of visits, interventions and various activities that are carried out every day.

“Last year, in this period, all hospital activity was concentrated on Covid cases, there were no interventions, visits were suspended, only emergencies were dealt with. Now that’s not the case. We have been able to recover almost all the backlog we had in the last six months and the extra Covid activity is proceeding. If the data on infections and hospitalizations should change, we will make a reshaping of the activities. For now we are able to maintain a good response to users and their health needs, which are not only those of the pandemic ».