In Italy, lines of ambulances are waiting for beds. While in France, the necessity for medical staff is even higher than in the spring quarter. Europe is suffering another strike from COVID-19.
French coronavirus tracking app just revealed the number of intensive care capacity: about 92,5% of patients and it is still rising. The situation in Spain is not better than their neighbor. In Barcelona, ICU is searching for nurses and doctors who engaged in the intensive care technique previously. The special medical technique, intensive care, is the last defense line for European nations against coronavirus. However, Europe is in shortage of these resources.
In several European nations, the abundance of intensive care for COVID-19 patients is nearing and sometimes overpassing the spring’s peak. Health officials recommended nations to have stricter lockdown from now. More beds could not solve the problem since Europe does not have enough medical resources at this time.
During the spring quarter, France has sent approximately 7,000 medical staff to go through training for intensive care. However, the Western European nation is suffering a lack of doctors and nurses. According to the French Health Minister, Oliver Veran, even nursing students, interns, paramedics have undergone training for intensive care.
“If the mobilization is well and truly there, it is not infinite,” Veran said last week when the ICU units were filled to 85% capacity. “It is not enough.”
In just a few days, the number raised by 7%, and he warned that it could go up. Unlike the first wave in Spring, coronavirus is everywhere in France because of the high-speed train. Nearby France, Italy also suffered the second strike of COVID-19. Filippo Anelli, the head of the national doctor’s association, said that the nation might not have enough physicians to tackle the raising numbers of COVID-19 patients.
Italy has about 11,000 ICU beds, but they could only share space for up to 5,000 patients. This Monday, hospitals in Italy registered the number of 2,848 ICU beds in use. In average, coronavirus patients with serious symptoms need to wait from 7 to 10 days to go from infection to hospitalization. This situation is despearte and could no longer last as the infection is raising rapidly.
Dr. Uwe Janssens, German specialist of intensive care, said that urban areas would reach the precarious level soon. “When a city of millions only has 80, 90 beds left then that can be a critical mass, because you don’t just have COVID-19, there are also traffic accidents, heart attacks, pulmonary embolisms and so forth,” he said.
After two weeks, German patients who needed care of ICU has nearly tripled, from 943 to 2,546. Nonetheless, Dr. Janssens confessed that the situation in Germany is still better than France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Britain.
“But a bed, a ventilator and a monitor doesn’t mean the patient can be cared for. When it comes to nurses and specialist staff, Germany is far behind,” the German doctor emphasized that even when Germany is in a better situation, they are in shortage of medical staff.
“We have a lot of beds but we don’t have enough staff for them,” Dr. Janssens added.
At the end, COVID-19 is coming back to Europe, and the Old Continent is facing the threat of quarantine once again.
via AP