Temperatures are dropping and all the data associated with the circulation of respiratory viruses have skyrocketed in the last week compared to the previous week, when the typical decrease in diagnoses on the Purísima bridge was recorded. Now everyone knows someone who has been attacked by the flu, covid or respiratory syncytial virus, explains Robert Güerri, head of the infectious diseases service at the del Mar hospital. In fact, these diseases caused 14,000 sick days last week. , more than double that of the previous one. We are, according to Güerri, facing “the first onslaught” of seasonal viruses and there is “an exponential increase in primary care and hospital consultations.”
The epidemiologist equates the current situation to a covid outbreak during the pandemic. Although hospitals such as Vall d'Hebron, Mútua Terrassa or the Clínic indicate that the pressure associated with the increase in respiratory pathologies is common for the time of year, other centers have had to apply the contingency plan planned for these occasions. This is the case of the Hospital del Mar, which, with the physical space saturated by consultations and admissions, has enabled 30 additional beds in its facilities and also in other establishments such as the Nou Hospital Engèlic.
“Admissions tend to be from older people with underlying and chronic pathologies that tend to decompensate,” says Vanesa Pascual, head of the emergency service at Mútua de Terrassa. In Catalonia there are 571 patients admitted with covid, 95 more than the week of December 4 to 10 (321 at the end of November), according to data from the Information System for Infection Surveillance (Sivic). Most of the income corresponds to people over 70 years of age. The ICU houses 13 critically ill patients, a figure that has not changed in the last month.
Despite the exponential increase in consultations in a context of clear rise in acute respiratory infections, with 67,521 cases diagnosed in the Catalan CAPs in the last week, the peaks of flu and covid are not in sight. The novelty is the modification of the distribution of viruses: for the first time this season, SARS-CoV-2 (21.6% of samples) prevails over influenza (19.2%) and rhinovirus ( 16.5%), which has predominated until now.
Salut experts speak of a situation of an “epidemic wave” of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus and consider that both modalities are approaching the epidemic peak. In fact, last year the first flu peak was recorded during Christmas week. At the end of February there was another, even more pronounced one. Two peaks had never been recorded in the same season.
Regarding Covid, last year the maximum number of infections occurred in mid-November and at this time the curve was in a moderate and sustained decline. Now it is growing. Last week, Catalan outpatient clinics diagnosed almost 6,000 cases, of which 1,275 correspond to people over 70 years of age. It is estimated that between 20 and 30% of people who are frail due to age or the presence of previous pathologies will require hospitalization when infected with covid. However, vaccination coverage is still much lower than in previous seasons: it reaches 57.66% of those over 80 years of age and 43.86% of those between 70 and 79 years of age. In the last month, coverage of both flu and covid has barely grown by 5%. Health sources assure that mortality due to decompensation caused by respiratory viruses in fragile people has increased significantly in at least one large hospital, data not confirmed by official sources.
But covid, the disease that caused the most deaths in Spain between 2020 and 2022, is no longer among the 10 most frequent causes of death, according to INE data. Between January and June, 3,760 people died from covid, 82% less than in the same period in 2022. In the first half of the year, there were 221,462 deaths, 14,245 less than a year before. Ischemic heart diseases were the most common cause, with 13,865 deaths. Behind them, cerebrovascular diseases (11,926) and bronchial and lung cancer (11,225).
