Regional Health Department: The situation with pneumonia incidence in Vitebsk and the region is stable
According to him, 20 percent of healthcare workers who were infected with coronavirus have recovered, including from pneumonia, and have returned to work.
Currently, a rehabilitation process is being organized for those who wish to participate among the more than 5,000 people who suffered from viral pneumonia in April. The sanatorium "Zhelezhnodorozhnik" with 219 beds has been allocated for these purposes. The recovery course is designed for 10-12 days with an emphasis on breathing exercises. The sanatorium "Lettsy," which was promptly used for pneumonia treatment at the peak of the incidence in the second half of April, has been released from this function.
Other medical facilities in Vitebsk are experiencing some easing of the workload. After disinfection and a two-day break, the regional specialized center, which was the first to join the fight against the epidemic, resumed admitting patients with respiratory diseases on May 8. The city hospital No. 1 will maintain its infectious disease profile, with disinfection currently being carried out floor by floor. However, the surgical building of the regional oncology dispensary will return to its specialized work on May 18, after disinfection. Patients hospitalized in the therapeutic department of the dispensary will be prepared for surgery.
- Then, the return to normal operation of the regional clinical hospital is next in line, - said Mikhail Vishnevetsky, - which we greatly need, as it is a multidisciplinary hospital with high-tech treatment methods. We are currently suspending the admission of new patients to the nephrology department, and then the urology department will follow. The number of pneumonia cases is not decreasing at a rate that would allow us to do this quickly.
A certain decrease in the workload was also felt from May 5 by specialists from the epidemiology department of the Vitebsk Zonal Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology, who are engaged in the less noticeable, but also very important work of investigating and localizing each case of coronavirus infection. I asked its head, Svetlana Sinkevich, how this happens.
- As soon as we receive information about positive laboratory test results for COVID-19, we immediately conduct an epidemiological investigation, communicate with each person without exception, -- she said. - If the person is in intensive care on artificial respiration, we talk to close family members. We identify close contacts of the first level, both within the family and at the workplace, with whom this person has been in prolonged and close contact, i.e., for more than 15-20 minutes in a room at a distance of less than a meter. We explain the rules of self-isolation and hand out a reminder.
Sanitary service workers daily provide polyclinics with lists of three groups of patients: those with confirmed COVID-19, and first and second-level contacts for the organization of medical observation. Similar databases are sent to the Internal Affairs Department for their participation in joint checks of compliance with self-isolation rules.
This scheme has been consistently followed since the first case of infection in Vitebsk and has not changed during the peak detection period in the second half of April. The circle is large, so colleagues from other departments of the zonal sanitary service came to the aid of epidemiologists: hygiene doctors and their assistants. Throughout the epidemic, up to 9 contacts were identified in family clusters, and up to 42 at enterprises and organizations.