Pressure on hospitals eases as virus rates drop, figures show

Pressure on hospitals has eased dramatically due to a sharp fall in flu and other respiratory infections.

Flu and Covid-19 rates fell by almost half in the second week of January and both viruses appear to have peaked for now, according to an update from the Health Service Executive (HSE). Rates of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), which mainly affects young children, have also fallen sharply.

This winter is now shaping up to be similar to, and no worse than, that of the last bad flu season of 2019/2020, as measured by hospitalisations. The main difference is the addition of Covid as a health threat since February 2020.

Despite the fall in infections, there were 527 patients waiting for a bed on Thursday morning, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation’s daily count, including 54 in University Hospital Limerick.

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In the second week of the year, there was a 47 per cent fall in the number of Covid cases, the HSE reported. Flu cases were down 48 per cent and RSV cases were down 38 per cent.

The number of people hospitalised dropped 47 per cent for Covid patients, 49 per cent for flu and 26 per cent for RSV.

“The latest data would suggest that the flu season has peaked and that the pressure from Covid-19 and RSV continues to decline,” said HSE chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry. “However, even if this pattern continues, we expect ongoing pressure on the healthcare system from these viruses.”

Health staff worked extra hours over the past few weekends after trolley numbers hit record levels early in the new year. The HSE said this arrangement would continue this coming weekend.

“Thanks to the significant efforts of our teams on the ground and the wider system, including GPs, supported by the measures we have taken, there has been a significant improvement in the emergency department situation, with a decrease in the numbers of patients on a trolley awaiting a hospital bed,” according to HSE interim chief executive Stephen Mulvany.

“If, as we hope, the flu season has peaked, it will still take some weeks before the pressure on hospitals eases. We continue to work to drive these numbers down further, in a safe way.”

Three flu deaths were reported in the second week of January, bringing to 48 the total number of flu deaths this winter.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre said no excess all-cause mortality was reported in the first week of the year, or between the start of October and early January.