https://www.informacion.es/alicante/2020/11/16/ingresos-covid-uci-provincia-duplican-23239505.html
Covid admissions in the province's ICUs double in just three weeks
The occupation of the Intensive Care Units is 23% from reaching the collapse of the first wave u The pandemic leaves 13 dead since Friday and 21 new outbreaks
![Sampling for the fourth wave of the seroprevalence study began yesterday at the field hospital. | INFORMATION Sampling for the fourth wave of the seroprevalence study began yesterday at the field hospital. | INFORMATION](https://estaticos-cdn.prensaiberica.es/clip/6927709b-72f7-457c-9507-f3e315d012f0_16-9-discover-aspect-ratio_default_0.jpg)
The pressure on the Intensive Care Units of the province of Alicante continues to increase as this second wave of the pandemic progresses and the situation begins, dangerously, to resemble that experienced last spring. During the weekend there are six more people admitted to these units due to the severity of the disease and there are already 1,11 patients with coronavirus who are occupying an ICU bed. Just three weeks ago this figure was half and represents 77% of the occupation that was reached at the worst moment of the first wave, when there were 144 patients who put these services to the limit.
The great fear that professionals who work in the Intensive Care Units of the province have now is that there will be a change in temperatures. "Covid admissions will continue to increase in the coming weeks given the high number of daily infections that are occurring, but if growth is sustained and does not skyrocket in a few days, it is acceptable," says José María Núñez, a member of the the province of the Valencian Society of Intensive Medicine. The danger, he adds, "will be when the cold comes and patients with other pathologies begin to enter."
If the pressure on these services continues to increase, explains Núñez, "more surgeries will have to be suspended" so as not to occupy more beds.
The most complicated situation continues in the Elda and Orihuela hospitals. In the first there are already 30 patients in Intensive Care and in Orihuela 17, for an ICU that generally has 14 beds. Both hospitals have referred patients to other centers in the province, such as the Marina Baixa or Sant Joan to try to alleviate the healthcare pressure they suffer.
In the Torrevieja hospital, the pressure also continues to rise. At the moment, nine seriously ill patients with covid and who require assisted respiration are being cared for in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 46 with moderate symptoms of the disease admitted to floor 0 of the health center. These nine patients represent almost 50% of the capacity of the ICU of the Torrevieja University Hospital. Under normal conditions this unit has 14 beds but it has already been expanded to 20, according to health sources consulted by INFORMATION. The situation is close to that suffered by the department in March-April with more than sixty patients on the ward and the ICU unfolded. A relevant percentage of the total number of seriously admitted patients comes from two nursing homes for the elderly in the health area where outbreaks have been registered. In the General Hospital of Alicante at noon yesterday there were 14 patients between the ICU and the beds deployed in anesthesiology areas, including children's operating rooms, and fifty in the different enabled plants. In the neighboring Sant Joan hospital, the situation was much calmer yesterday, with four patients in the ICU and 44 admitted to the ward. In this health center, it has not yet been necessary to resort to extended areas to increase beds, although it is giving priority to interventions that entail less time in hospital. with four patients in the ICU and 44 admitted to the ward. In this health center, it has not yet been necessary to resort to extended areas to increase beds, although it is giving priority to interventions that entail less time in hospital. with four patients in the ICU and 44 admitted to the ward. In this health center, it has not yet been necessary to resort to extended areas to increase beds, although it is giving priority to interventions that entail less time in hospital.
As for the daily balance, the coronavirus pandemic has caused the death during this weekend of 13 people in the province of Alicante and 28 in the Valencian Community. Seven of them lived in nursing homes.
Like every Monday, the number of positive cases has fallen significantly, due to the delay in communicating the cases. Health has reported 204 infections in the province of Alicante and 481 in the whole of the Community. With these figures, the accumulated incidence falls in the Community to 284 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. On Friday it exceeded 300 cases.
In parallel with the increase in ICU admissions, hospital floors are also filling with coronavirus patients. Only during the weekend the number of admissions in the province has increased by 63 people, reaching 544 patients in Alicante hospitals.
In the last hours, 21 outbreaks have been registered in the province of Alicante out of the 56 detected throughout the Valencian Community. The six outbreaks in the city of Elche stand out, all of social origin and with 29 affected. There are also five outbreaks in educational centers in Redován, Cox, Pinoso, Elda and Banyeres de Mariola with 18 people affected. There are also outbreaks in Ibi, Orihuela, Santa Pola, Onil, Ibi, Rafal, Castalla and Alcoy.
Satse asks for FFP2 masks instead of surgical ones
The Nursing Union, Satse, has asked the Ministry of Health to review the current protocol that establishes the mandatory use of a surgical mask for health personnel, “since new studies have determined that there is significant evidence that covid is contagious by aerosols and, therefore, it is necessary to use a mask FFP2 or FFP3 without valve ”. Currently, the FFP2 mask is only used in the ICU Covid Services, Covid plant and Covid Emergencies. In all other situations, surgery is indicated.
New round of seroprevalence study
A total of 2,500 people from the province participate in the fourth round of the national seroprevalence study carried out by the Ministry of Health . The tests began yesterday in the field hospital attached to the General Hospital of Alicante . As in previous rounds, this study will make it possible to estimate the number of people who have been infected with coronavirus in Spain , including those in whom PCR tests were not performed or in whom it had not even been suspected that they had passed the infection , offering information on infections corresponding to the second wave. On the other hand, it will estimate the percentage of cases, among the total of infected patients, that are being detected by the health services. The study will also serve to further research on the duration of antibodies in people who were infected in the first wave of epidemics. In addition, it will make it possible to quantify the percentage of people with antibodies who never had symptoms, it will provide data on the occurrence of possible reinfections and will reveal data on the distribution of the infection. In the third wave of the study, the province achieved immunity of 3%.