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Doctors sound the alarm: clinics are full of cold patients. This is unusual at this time of the year. Many of them reveal the symptoms of COVID-19, but medics have no way to verify it, because tests for the presence of coronavirus are almost no longer performed. This situation is of great concern among healthcare professionals. And the fear of what will happen in the fall, because there will be more cases, is certain.
- From the beginning of April, patients with COVID-19 symptoms cannot test for the presence of the coronavirus on their own without incurring the cost of the test.
- Whether the infection is confirmed is decided by the GP, who has a pool of rapid tests for COVID-19 at his disposal. Unfortunately, few physicians use them, despite the fact that many patients with symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection come to the clinic.
- The reason is simple: – I think there is no point in doing a test that does not in any way change the way you treat the patient. For if it turns out that the patient has covid, I can only send him home and – as in the case of other infections – recommend self-isolation – says the drug in an interview with tvn24.pl. Tomasz Zieliński, family doctor
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage
Patients come to the primary health care center with symptoms of COVID-19
– There are definitely more people suffering from infections than usual at the end of May – Paweł Doczekalski from the Supreme Medical Council (NRL), a primary care physician, admitted in an interview with tvn24.pl. He added, “in many cases the symptoms resemble COVID-19, but we cannot verify this”.
From April 1, the National Health Fund (NFZ) does not reimburse tests for COVID-19. By decision of the Ministry of Health (Ministry of Health) Poles can no longer take advantage of the free test at collection points, and the only place where they can perform such a test (outside the hospital) is the POZ clinic.. This is where tests from the Material Reserves Agency are sent, which can be used by doctors suspecting SARS-CoV-2 infection in their patients. A quick test for COVID-19 gives the result within several minutes, which allows the physician to confirm or rule out the infection on the spot.
This is the theory. In practice, doctors rarely use tests. – My package is untouched – admitted the drug on tvn24.pl. Tomasz Zieliński, family doctor and the vice-president of the Federation of Healthcare Employers’ Associations, Zielona Góra Agreement.
Doctors recommend patients to test for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 at home, but the cost of such a test must be borne by themselves. Tests are still available in pharmacies, their average price is PLN 20-40. Not every patient can afford it, and referring them to it does not put additional pressure. They don’t see the point of it.
– I believe that it makes no sense to perform a test that does not in any way change the way you deal with the patient. For if it turns out that the patient has covid, I can only send him home and – as in the case of other infections – recommend self-isolation – says Zieliński. And he adds: – I have no way of isolating him. Now that the Ministry of Health has decided that covid is no longer a problem, I will not break out.
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Statistics are one thing, reality is another
Officially, there are not many COVID-19 cases in Poland. Today’s report of the Ministry of Health (data for Sunday, May 29) shows that there were only 83 cases. Last week the infection graph “jumped” only once, on Tuesday – 420 infections were recorded then, but the data probably included the test results not only from Monday but also from the weekend. On the remaining days, there were just over 200 infections a day. Deaths last week were a total of 49.
For comparison, a year ago at this time (May 30), there were 579 infections and 56 deaths (only one day). In total, in the last week of May 2021, 6356 people fell ill, and 810 patients with COVID-19 died.
Of course, comparing these data does not make much sense, not only because the current statistics do not reflect the real epidemic situation. Today we are also at a completely different stage of the pandemic. However, this does not necessarily mean that the situation has improved.
On the one hand, a year ago, most Poles had not yet been vaccinated (in late spring, registration for younger years was still launched), but the then dominant variants (Alpha and Beta) were not as contagious as Delta or, above all, Omikron.
The rest of the article is available under the video.
On the other hand, the number of deaths was then much higher than in recent months, as the last variant to take control of the infection did not cause the severe course of the disease as the previous variants of the virus. Today, more than half of Poles are immune to the coronavirus in some way (whether through vaccination or COVID-19 disease), which certainly gives them some protection against infection.
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A new wave of infections in the fall?
However, experts are sure that it will not last too long, and another wave of coronavirus infections awaits us in the fall.
«(…) mutations are non-directional and there is a chance that it may appear extremely virulent in the fall. Let’s remember that the pandemic is not over and the virus is circulating in a population that is only slightly vaccinated – said prof. Tomasz J. Wąsik, head of the Chair and Department of Microbiology and Virology of the Medical University of Silesia. As he added «in the fall there will definitely be a significant increase in infections and we will probably have to go back to face masks«.
Remember to start taking care of your immune system today. Reach for Healthy as Fish – a set of fruit and vegetable shots with herbs available on Medonet Market at a favorable price.
We encourage you to listen to the latest episode of the RESET podcast. This time we devote it to ecology. How to be eco and not go crazy? How can we care for our planet on a daily basis? What and how to eat? You will hear about this and many other topics related to ecology in the new episode of our podcast.