England goes into the third national lockdown. Meanwhile, UK NHS health workers are struggling to accommodate COVID-19 patients in critical condition. They warn that the worst is yet to come if the new variant of the coronavirus spreads across the country.
“We had to send patients elsewhere before Christmas because we didn’t have enough beds,” says pediatric nurse Beth Walmsley. The 33-year-old has recently started treating adults as well as children to relieve her colleagues who are dealing with the influx of seriously at risk COVID-19 patients.
New knowledge, new circumstances, risky work: Employees at a vaccination center in Coventry, Central England
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The clinic where Walmsley works is one of dozen across the country that declared a “major emergency” ahead of the holidays – urging all employees to cut annual leave and holiday plans and work until further notice.
One in 50 households infected
“We are already facing an ordeal, and we have not even reached the projected high point that Christmas and New Year’s Eve will bring us,” said Zainab Najim, executive director of the UK Medical Association.
Figures from the national statistics agency suggest that more than a million people contracted the coronavirus last week. That is one infected member in every 50th household nationwide, in London even in every 30th household.
With his last-minute lockdown order, Prime Minister Boris Johnson had finally urged his compatriots to curtail their holiday plans, and he ordered the Londoners and the people of the troubled southeast to cancel them entirely. Nevertheless, employees of the National Health Service (NHS) expect an increase in corona cases from those who have not adhered to it. In view of the incubation period of several days, many of those who became infected at the turn of the year have not yet developed any symptoms.
“We expect a peak around January 17th,” says Penny Louch, a 63-year-old specialist nurse who offers virtual consultations for COVID-19 patients whose symptoms are not severe enough to need to be hospitalized. “It’ll definitely get worse before it gets better.”
Pressure on NHS health services is growing
“There is a feeling like ‘it’s going again’ and that it’s going to be worse than the first time,” says Beth Walmsley of the mood of the nurses who have had to adjust to the pandemic since last March. “It’s hard to get in your head. The public has no idea how bad it really is.”
“Stay home” – appeal on a poster in London
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Not only do healthcare workers need to learn new skills, adapt to new circumstances, and give up their annual vacation – they are still one of the groups with the highest risk of infection. This is especially true in view of the new, much more contagious virus mutation.
“Many of the hospitals have increased capacity incredibly well,” said Zainab Najim of the Medical Association, bowing to frontline NHS workers like Beth Walmsley, who took on additional responsibilities as the pressure on the hospitals grew.
“Unfortunately we don’t have enough people,” added Zainab Najim. Because many clinic employees get sick and have to be in quarantine. And while the UK is distributing the vaccine to the public, nurses and doctors are not being targeted or given preferential vaccination. The pressure on them could lead to burnouts and persistent emotional problems.
“It is very difficult for employees to free themselves from all of this. The patients are much more seriously ill,” says Zainab Najim. “and when this is all over, mental health will be a huge challenge.”
Lockdowns: Too little, too late
Could this deadly wave and the enormous pressure on the NHS have been avoided? Health care workers criticize government releases for giving the public a false sense of security throughout the pandemic. The regional and national lockdowns were too slack and too late.
“The message that came over from the government always sounded like it was a short-term measure,” complains Penny Louch, adding that pandemics usually last two years. “People have to get it in their heads that we’re going to be going in and out of lockdowns until most people are vaccinated. But we mess with people who think they don’t have COVID-19 or they don’t get it. “
Britain’s vaccination campaign has loopholes, say critics. Because nurses and doctors are not vaccinated preferentially.
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The government’s mild messages have a direct impact on the number of cases and thus on the staff in the hospitals.
“It pisses us off as professionals because they sow hope and people become careless and thoughtless in response,” added Beth Walmsley. The government’s obsession with loosening the lockdown over the holidays influenced people’s behavior.
“Christmas should have been called off in October, there should have been a lockdown and the government should have focused on organizing an intensive vaccination program,” says Beth Walmsley. “If we had done that, we could start this year very differently.”
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