“The most disturbing part of Covid-19 patients are people with adjacent pathologies. For them, the exacerbation of the disease is very rapid. The disease is really very tricky. And its course and complications develop relatively quickly,” said Olegs Shuba.
Asked whether it would be better to send patients to hospital sooner, he said that everyone should work “in a known spiral”, from the GP to the NMPD service. Šuba pointed out that the selection is quite professional – the patients who have to go there go to the hospital.
This does not mean that inpatients are not admitted to the hospital, but it is often difficult to determine whether it is due to a patient’s side effect or Covid-19 side effects. Each case must be considered individually.
Asked about the ability of regional hospitals to care for Covid-19 patients, Shuba said the regions have the capacity to treat the severely ill. “And special transfers to university hospitals are only for certain indications, situations where regional capacity is insufficient and it is not possible to provide any specific procedures,” said the doctor.
Meanwhile, family doctor Ainis Dzalbs points out that, perhaps, in Latvia, patients are sent to hospitals even too soon. Looking at the guidelines of other countries, it can be seen that patients are being sent to hospitals who can no longer, for example, keep their blood pressure at a proper level or have developed acrocyanosis. Respectively, patients who are already in a rather serious condition are placed elsewhere in hospitals.
Speaking about the consequences of the virus, Dzalb admits that both outpatient and inpatient treatment often indicate that olfactory and taste disorders persist for a long time. Sometimes they are weeks, but in some cases even months. Fatigue and weakness also persist for a long time, which is not yet fully explained. The question is whether it is a direct effect of the virus on the nervous system or some other side factors.
“Well, of course, those patients who had a more severe course of the disease, those who experienced pneumonia, complained of respiratory problems – shortness of breath, prolonged cough. It is not clear how this will resolve over time. Problems can also be long-term, characterized by disability. There may be irreversible damage to the lung tissue, there is no therapeutic cure to restore this function, and in some patients the disease can be really dangerous.
It is also impossible to predict whether it will be a young patient or a respectable age with many chronic diseases. Of course, we hope that the changes that occur in the lungs will gradually improve. Research is being carried out in this area, “says Dzalbs.
Jauns.lv has already reported that 89 new cases of Covid-19 were discovered in Latvia on Sunday.
Three people died – two who passed away were in the age group of 85 to 90 years, and one – in the age group of 75 to 80 years.
A total of 2343 examinations were performed in the country, thus the proportion of positive tests is 3.8%. In Latvia, a total of 10,636 persons became ill and 1,515 recovered.
47 patients were admitted to hospitals with Covid-19.
A total of 386 patients are treated in hospitals: 369 with moderate disease and 17 with severe disease.
No patients have been discharged from the hospital during the last 24 hours.
