A year ago, 250 people had to be admitted to hospital due to the disease. 50 of them were in intensive care.
Today, the situation in the country’s hospitals is different, with a total of 40 Covid-19 patients and 13 in intensive care. Currently, hospitals are able to operate as normal and guarantee adequate care for every patient. However, Dr Philippe Türk, the president of the Hospital Federation, points out that the clinics have reached a limit.
All four hospitals that are taking in Covid-19 patients currently have three to four Covid-19 patients in intensive care, a situation which is still manageable.
At the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL) in Luxembourg City, however, five Covid-19 patients were in rehabilitation. According to Dr Bernd Schmitz, the director of the Service for Patients in Critical Condition, this is problematic because the clinic’s rehab unit is “basically full”. The CHL has six rooms for Covid-19 patients requiring intensive care. If more come in, the hospital needs to adapt, which means that other care services have to be cut back.
Dr Schmitz stresses that both staff and doctors are “exhausted” from the long pandemic, which does not appear to be ending any time soon. Even if three to four Covid-19 patients in intensive care may not sound like much to the general public, Dr Schmitz explains that even this seemingly small number already results in an immense workload. While one skilled caretaker usually treats one patient, Covid-19 patients in intensive care should be turned over every three to four hours. Due to the substantial amount of tubes, however, this takes up to 30 minutes and requires the combined strength of four to six people for a single patient, Dr Schmitz explains.
The pathology of Covid-19 patients in intensive care has remained largely the same over the course of the pandemic. Elderly people and those with pre-existing conditions are by far the most affected. However, medical experts observe a significant difference since the introduction of the vaccines. Of 30 Covid-19 patients who have received intensive care at the CHL since July 2021, only three were vaccinated. And Dr Schmitz stresses that those that were vaccinated also had “other medical problems”. On average, only one in ten patients in intensive care is vaccinated.
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This is why Dr Philippe Türk sees vaccination as the only way to end the pandemic as quickly as possible. The 22% of Luxembourg’s population that are still unvaccinated must be convinced, according to Dr Türk, who thinks that this is the main solution above all others. Meanwhile, Dr Schmitz states that vaccines for children will be “another puzzle piece” in the fight against the virus.
Dr Türk points out that those who have refused the vaccine so far are “critical in a way that they are no longer willing to accept factual information”. Many reject “the complexity of the scientific discussion” and victimise themselves, with Dr Türk stating that they must probably convinced one by one.
It is possible to draw on the experiences from the 1918 influenza pandemic to get an idea of how the Covid-19 pandemic might end. Medical experts hope that after two ears, the virus will be weakened after infecting a large part of the population. The coronavirus would then eventually be on the same level as the “standard” influenza virus.
According to Dr Schmitz, it is likely that at that point, the virus will be mostly prevalent during wintertime. In addition to seasonal waves, there will also be years when the virus is more contagious and, as a result, deadly – like the flu. Luxembourg’s hospital sector looks at the upcoming winter season with scepticism. Hope is focussed on spring 2022.
Watch the full report by RTL Télé (in Luxembourgish) below:
