As hospitals across Europe prepare themselves for a surge in coronavirus cases during the holiday season due to the new Omicron variant, the Westerstedt Clinical Center expects to weather the storm.
Highlight
- Rising coronavirus cases among medical staff pushing them to breaking point
- Boris Johnson faces a painful choice: to ruin vacation plans or face a tidal wave of affairs
- Omicron may still affect health systems due to huge number of infections
Britain’s chief nurses’ union warned on Monday that exhaustion and rising coronavirus cases among medical workers are pushing them to breaking point, increasing pressure on the government for new restrictions to prevent record-high infections, driven by Omicron’s edition number can be reduced.
Patricia Marquis, England’s director of the Royal College of Nursing Union, said the situation was looking “very bleak” over the next few weeks, as increasing absenteeism from illness and self-isolation helped clear the backlog of postponed procedures and treatments to treat the common cold. have affected the hospitals struggling for Coronavirus cases as well as diseases.
“In many places they are already under extreme stress and pressure, and so they are starting to get sick with COVID themselves, but also with mental and physical exhaustion,” she told the BBC. “So, employees are now looking ahead thinking, ‘Oh my god, what’s coming?'”
After repeatedly promising that there would be no repeat of last year’s lockdown-married Christmas, Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces a painful choice: to ruin the holiday plans of millions or a tide of affairs and disruption. face the wave.
Many governments in Europe and the US face similar dilemmas about how hard it is on Omicron, which appears to be more permeable than the previous Delta version, which led to a boom in many parts of the world. Early evidence suggests that Omicron may also cause less severe disease – although scientists caution that it is too early to say – and that it may better evade vaccine protection.
Even though it usually causes less severe cases, Omicron can still affect health systems by causing an overwhelming number of infections.
But many political leaders are reluctant to implement the tough measures taken earlier in the pandemic – often because they promised their people that vaccines would offer a way out of such restrictions and reimpose them politically. may be unstable.
In the US, the prospect of a chilly winter from a wave of coronavirus infections is a stark reversal from the optimism projected by President Joe Biden nearly 10 months ago, when he suggested the country would essentially be back to normal by this Christmas. France is desperately trying to avoid a new lockdown that would damage the economy and hit President Emmanuel Macron’s expected re-election campaign.
Meanwhile, Johnson, whose authority has been marred by weeks of political scandals, is now caught between calls from scientific advisers for new limits on social interaction and vociferous opposition to any such restrictions within his Conservative Party.
Earlier this month, Johnson’s government reinstated rules requiring face masks in stores and ordered people to show proof of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test before entering nightclubs and other crowded places . But many scientists say strict action is needed.
Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said on Monday he could not give a “hard and fast guarantee” that new restrictions would not be announced this week.
Government ministers are discussing several options, ranging from non-binding guidance for people to limit festive gatherings to mandatory social distancing and curfews for bars and restaurants.
The speed of the spread of Omicron in the UK, where cases are doubling every two days, is crippling the economy during the busy Christmas period. Usually overcrowded theaters and restaurants are vulnerable to cancellations. Some eateries and pubs have closed until after the holidays because so many workers are sick or self-isolating. The Natural History Museum, one of London’s top attractions, said on Monday it was closing for a week due to a “lack of front-of-house staff”.
The hospitality industry is urging the government to offer financial support, as it did earlier in the pandemic, with grants, loans and a scheme that paid the wages of millions of furloughed workers. Those programs were called off after Britain lifted restrictions in the summer.
The Dutch government began a tough nationwide lockdown on Sunday to curb rapidly rising infections, at least partly attributed to the Omicron version. But other European countries have chosen something less.
France and Germany have barred most British travelers from entering. Ireland imposed an 8 pm curfew on pubs and bars and limited attendance at indoor and outdoor events.
These countries are warily watching the UK, which for now is one of the places most affected by the Omicron version.
Confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK have increased by 50% in a week. The government on Sunday reported 82,886 more laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases in a day. With more than 147,000 deaths, Britain has Europe’s highest COVID-19 death toll after Russia.
Hospitalizations are rising at a very slow pace, but medical groups are warning that hospitals are already under strain in London, which has been hit hardest by the ommicron-driven wave so far.
The British Medical Association has warned that around 50,000 doctors, nurses and other National Health Service workers in England could become ill with COVID-19 on Christmas Day unless additional measures are introduced.
Medics’ time and energy are also being put into delivering vaccine boosters – in keeping with preliminary data that the extra shot helps protect against the variant. Johnson aims to have 18 more boosters in all by the end of December. More than 900,000 booster shots were distributed on Sunday, as soccer stadiums, shopping centers and cathedrals were turned into temporary vaccination clinics.
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