Several hospitals in the country have raised their alert levels to green and yellow respectively due to increased pressure and an increase in respiratory infections.
Nordlandssykehuset is one of the hospitals that still has a yellow alert due to full beds and a full emergency department.
Probably over the corona wave
According to the Institute of Public Health weekly report published on Thursday this week, we are probably over the peak of the covid-19 wave. It is good news for the hospitals, says assistant health director Espen Rostrup Nakstad to TV 2.
– That has a lot to say, because during Christmas almost 2,000 people were hospitalized with respiratory infections. Corona has accounted for approximately 800 of those patients.
Declining corona infection also means that fewer employees in the health care system will fall ill, and that there will be fewer patients overall.
The assistant director of health says there are now about the same number of people hospitalized with flu as with corona. As it stands now, it is the flu wave that is associated with the greatest uncertainty.
– Hope 2023 will be a better year
According to the weekly report from FHI, the flu numbers have decreased slightly after Christmas. Nakstad thinks it may be because people have met fewer people during the festive season than they would on weekdays.
– Therefore, it is possible that the flu numbers will rise a little in January and February, but it is also possible that we are a little over the top and that things are going a little slower than with corona, he says.
According to Nakstad, one must be prepared for several “small waves” of corona infection in the future, but he does not think they will result in as many admissions.
– We hope that 2023 will be a better year in that respect.
