Maybe oh coronavirus move into an endemic phase and what we have experienced in previous years is at the end or now we are at the beginning of a new era where new pathogens will appear under conditions of very intense climate change and we will have a different health picture than before, now we knew it

This is a question that is being discussed in all world forums, but no one can give a clear answer at the moment, said the President of the Greek Pulmonology Union, Dr. V. Stamatula Tsikrikas, at the same time outlining the picture that currently exists in our country due to the outbreak of several viruses at the same time, along with influenza, Covid19 and RSV.

Big pressure on the healthcare system in the coming weeks

“In the country as a whole, both in the adult population and in pediatrics, there is not yet a peak, but a high level of hospitalizations with sometimes up to 100% occupancy in single beds, but there is also an increased demand in intensive care units,” says Ms. Nut.

He then noted that especially now, during the seasonal flu season, there is an increased incidence, and since the flu virus has shown more aggression this year, there is often a high probability that someone will need an intensive care bed.

The healthcare system, according to a prominent pulmonologist, is currently facing not a dominant respiratory virus as in previous years, but multiple respiratory viruses that seem to be on the increase in order to prevail and survive in the anti-coronavirus community. both their aggressiveness and their soreness.

“I assume that in the coming weeks and before the peak of the flu wave, we will be under a lot of pressure. How events unfold, however, depends on how well we are prepared and fortified. After three years of a pandemic, I think there is both clinical experience from previous waves and knowledge of how overwhelmed the healthcare system can be, as well as what structures should be strengthened and activated,” he said. .

Three points to pay attention to

So, what needs to be done at this stage so that we do not end up in situations that no one wants to experience again?

For Ms Tsikrikas, greater vigilance is needed on three levels:

1. At the level of public health strategies, how can they strengthen, use and manage in the best and most appropriate way during this particular time of the respiratory virus crisis?
2. How can healthcare workers be able to stand rested and with high-quality services next to the patient and
3. The public must be able to understand the best practices and good knowledge that we have acquired in previous years, both in relation to individual responsibility and in relation to respiratory health and personal hygiene, and not to abandon them.

“If all this works well and comes into balance, I think we can do it with the least human losses,” she notes.

Regarding the reopening of schools after the holidays and how this will affect a further outbreak of viruses, Ms Tsikrikas comments: “Every event and every meeting with people who transmit and do not stay at home, we know very well that this will lead to an increase in cases , which we have already observed since the first week of the opening of the school after the holidays. After all, we were waiting for this, and this will also affect the epidemiological level. Children cannot stay at home. We figured it out. Schools have not been closed in any country, even in ours, especially since the weather is still especially good.”