More than 900 people are currently in hospital with the coronavirus, fifty of whom are in intensive care. These are mainly the elderly and patients with an underlying disease. Many people have now built up resistance through a previous infection or through vaccination, but the vulnerable remain a risk group, says Chantal Rovers, professor of infectious disease outbreaks at Radboud university medical center in Nijmegen.
“And even if you are young and healthy and have had corona twice, you can get post-covid syndrome,” she warns. It therefore remains important to reduce the risk of contamination. “The advice is still that you stay at home if you are sick.”
Still testing?
What does that mean with Christmas approaching? “My advice would be: don’t go to Christmas drinks or to grandpa and grandma’s for Christmas if you have complaints, no matter how annoying that is,” she says. “Or consider a corona test to be sure.”
Now that the virus is on the rise, drugstores are indeed noticing that the demand for corona self-tests is increasing. In two weeks, sales have more than doubled, says the umbrella organization Central Bureau of Drugstore Companies (CBD). Kruidvat and Trekpleister have also seen an upward trend since the beginning of this month.
CBD cannot provide concrete figures, but until November the sale of tests was stable and amounted to ‘several tens of thousands per week’. Albert Heijn also says it is seeing an increase in demand for self-tests and also for cough, flu and cold products.
More cases in January
Professor Rovers (Radboud university medical center) expects that the number of infections will increase further in the near future, now that people come together at Christmas, for example. “There is a good chance that more people will have to be admitted to hospital in January, but scenes like those during the first year of the corona pandemic will certainly not happen.”
Outgoing Minister Ernst Kuipers (Public Health) said yesterday that he is not concerned about the increase. “The numbers are really high again. But I am not worried because the shelter is adequate.” According to him, vaccination remains the instrument to ‘prevent an important part of these admissions’.
Vaccination program
Just under half of people with vulnerable health and people aged 60 or older have now received a shot, says Kuipers. “I would like that to be much higher. We will continue with the regular vaccination program for another week, until next Friday.” People under 60 can also get vaccinated.
“Because the strict measures have been lifted, people may think that corona is not too bad now,” Harald Wychgel of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment told RTL News this week. “But corona is not a cold. You can still get sick and develop long-term complaints.”
Government advice
The government currently no longer provides advice on specifically preventing contamination with corona. However, general advice still applies to prevent respiratory viruses such as corona. It’s about:
- Wash your hands often and thoroughly with soap and water and ventilate indoor areas.
- Stay home if you are sick.
- Not sick, but have complaints? Work from home if possible and consult with your employer.
- Cough and sneeze into your elbow.
- Keep your distance from others.
- Avoid cash with people who could become seriously ill from a respiratory infection. Wear a mouth-nose mask if contact is necessary, for example when providing informal care.
Source: National government
2023-12-16 19:54:00
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