A hospital board has been forced to flip from ‘amber’ to ‘red’ status after a surge in new Covid patients.
Medics working for The Aneurin Bevan Health Board in Wales say they are ‘gutted’ to be plunged back into fighting yet another wave of the virus.
Covid patients being cared for by the board – which covers large parts of south Wales – now make up the majority of seriously ill patients.
Intensive care consultant Ami Jones said on Twitter that it had been a ‘frustrating day’ for staff ‘as we “flipped” the largest part of the unit from Amber (non Covid) to red (Covid).’
She added: ‘We’re all pretty gutted that we’re facing this next wave of covid patients. Vaccination has certainly weakened the link between infections and hospitalisations but it hasn’t broken it and the unvaccinated are featuring heavily in hospitalised patients.
‘Please get vaccinated. Please make sure that you keep wearing facemasks, social distancing and avoiding poorly ventilated areas whether you’re vaccinated or not. You can still catch and spread Covid if vaccinated but the risk of becoming seriously unwell/hospitalised is much less.’
Yesterday, it was announced that the number of deaths involving coronavirus registered each week in England and Wales has climbed to its highest level for five months.
A total of 668 deaths registered in the week ending August 27 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Wales as a whole now has more patients with coronavirus in ICUs than it did when a ‘firebreak’ lockdown was announced in October last year.
People were told to stay at home and pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops were ordered to close for 17 days to try to stop the virus spreading.
The Welsh Government has said it has no plans for another snap lockdown, despite the surge in cases.
UK health secretary Sajid Javid has also said he is not considering the measure this autumn.
Meanwhile, another intensive care consultant has warned hospital beds are filling up at the ‘same rate as last year’ and he’s seeing more younger people getting seriously ill.
Dr David Hepburn took to Twitter to explain the latest situation at the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, one of those governed by the Aneurin Bevan Health Board.
He said there’s been a ‘long slow increase in numbers which bodes very badly for the rest of the winter.’
He added: ‘Case rates are right up all over the country. Thankfully vaccination has made a huge difference in the numbers we are seeing but the issue is the patients need a couple of weeks to get better – you only need to admit one every day to fill the unit over a few weeks.
‘And before you ask – yes we do have some vaccinated patients on ITU, and an equal if not great number of unvaccinated. On the whole the vaccinated patients are much less unwell in terms of support needed than in previous waves. The patients are also younger this time around.’
He said he had just intubated a young patient ‘in their 20s’ and predicted that the current wave will last well into winter.
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