Covid-19 in Occitania: the Toulouse University Hospital “will be able to react if a new wave of hospitalization arises”
While in some departments the number of hospitalizations for Covid-19 is stagnating and no longer falling, at the Toulouse University Hospital, the situation remains stable.
“For the past two days, the number of hospitalizations has not been falling.” This observation on the front of the Covid-19, established by Olivier Véran in the columns of Parisian Sunday, March 20, could make people shudder. The Minister of Health, however, wanted to be reassuring, advocating vigilance and specifying that there are no “worrying meanings in intensive care”.
In fact, if the number of positive cases is rising again across the country, for the time being, the effects are not being felt in healthcare establishments. In Occitania, the ARS has recorded a clear drop in hospitalizations in recent weeks. But health professionals are still on the alert. “For two years, we have always maintained constant vigilance on the subject of Covid-19”, explains Dr Muriel Alvarez, infectious disease doctor in the infectious and tropical diseases department (SMIT) of the Toulouse University Hospital. “Even when we go through phases that are a priori calm, we were always on alert, this allowed us to anticipate possible increases in the number of hospitalizations.”
Situation “under control”
Muriel Alvarez adds that the cycle is now known and similar from wave to wave “increase in the number of positive cases detected, followed by an increase in traditional hospitalizations which translates into an increase in the number of patients in intensive care”. The CHU is therefore ready to quickly put in place dedicated systems, if the request requires it.
But at present, the situation is “back to normal and remains under control”. The infectiologist doctor counts 115 Covid-19 patients within the CHU but “only half are taken care of directly for the coronavirus, with seven people in intensive care and 20 in intensive or critical care. The other half is reduced like Covid-19 patients because they tested positive, but they are taken care of for other pathologies.
In a context that is all the more stable since, after a high rate of staff absenteeism in January due to the heavy circulation of Omicron, the teams are now back to normal. in the end, if another wave of hospitalizations came to present itself, “the staff, although tired, will be quite calm”, estimates Muriel Alvarez. “Without trivializing the disease and its consequences, we can cope.”