COVID-19. Return. Valery Vechorko-about the mutation of the virus

Plot Measures against the spread of coronavirus in Russia

In the country, the statistics of morbidity have crept up again.We talked about this with the winner of the State Award for personal contribution to the fight against coronavirus, head physician of the Moscow State Clinical Hospital No. 15 Valery Vechorko.

& mdash; Valery Ivanovich, your hospital, one of the largest in Moscow, has again been redesigned for the treatment of COVID-19. Was it unexpected for you?

To be honest, we did not expect such a surge. The number of cases already exceeds the peak values of last year. Among them, there are more young people: up to 30%. So the trend is, unfortunately, depressing.

With What can this be related to?

The root cause has already been mentioned a million times: there are a lot of us who do not want to be vaccinated. For various reasons. For the formation of collective immunity, 60-70% of citizens must be vaccinated. So far, the figure is much smaller. According to the country with the account of the ill and vaccinated 30%.

In Russia, the death rate from COVID-19 has so far been much lower than in other countries. But the West doesn’t believe it. Can they be persuaded?

“The West doesn’t believe much in anything at all, it’s time to get used to it. Mortality in hospitals and mortality in the country are statistically different things. Only serious patients are admitted to the hospital with COVID-19. If we take the mortality rate in the intensive care units of those who are on artificial lung ventilation, we will not see much difference between countries. The mortality rate of patients with coronavirus in intensive care units is high:from 30% to 50%. The mortality rate on the ventilator, unfortunately, is even higher: from 50% to 88%. This is public data. But we also know that only 20% carry the disease seriously, and even fewer are admitted to the intensive care unit and on a ventilator. According to statistics, up to 30% of the population has experienced the virus in our country in one way or another. So count it. Our figures are reliable and suggest that the restrictive measures taken during the last peak of the pandemic have paid off.

They say that the virus mutates and the previously developed therapy has ceased to be effective. Is that true?

Yes, alas, the course of the disease is now different from what it was last spring, summer or autumn. Now we see more and more young patients without concomitant diseases, who, despite their age and the absence of aggravating factors, still get sick a lot and hard. This has never happened before. The course of the disease itself has also changed: it has become more rapid, with extensive damage to the lung tissue. From a lung lesion of less than 25% to a severe lesion of more than 75%, it can take only 2-3 days. That is why the experience that we havepurchased for a year of working with COVID-19, priceless. And it’s not just about the therapy used at the treatment stage. Important are the doctor’s view of the patient, his analysis on the basis of the collected anamnesis, assessment of the condition according to laboratory parameters, adjusted therapy based on the individual condition, timely oxygen support. In short, to achieve a positive result, you need a combination of knowledge, experience and an individual approach to each patient.

Is it possible to get sick after the vaccine?

How many employees of your hospital have been vaccinated?

– Of course. Doctors, like no one else, understand the full extent of the danger of this disease and the responsibility that lies on them, both to patients and to relatives, colleagues and other people with whom they encounter in their daily lives.

Your colleague, the chief physician of the Kommunarka, Denis Protsenko, reported the following figures: from 30.12.2020 to last Wednesday, 23,281 patients were admitted to them. Of these, 136 were vaccinated, and 69 received both components. 0.58% and 0.29%, respectively. Do you have similar numbers?

I will be able to answer this question in a couple of weeks, because we have just started receiving patients with coronavirus infection in this wave. However, it must be understood: the vaccine is not a guarantee of 100% protection. But the fact that it significantly facilitates the course of the disease, we see in the patients who get to the treatment in hospitals.

The vaccination campaign started back in December 2020. We were the first to invent a vaccine against COVID-19 and the first to provide the population with the possibility of vaccination. Today, for Muscovites, three vaccines are already available for free, without queues and delays, and vaccination points are deployed throughout the city, from polyclinics to large stores and shopping centers, working without holidays and weekends.

Do those who did it more than a year ago need to be vaccinated again?

As the course of the disease is individual for each person, so the body’s reaction to the vaccination is also individual. Some people have antibodies to the coronavirus for a year, and some people, even after leaving the hospital after a serious illness, almost do not have them. While it is difficult to say what this is related to, research in this area continues throughoutto the world. We may soon find the answer. WHO recommends vaccination for those who have had COVID-19 more than six months ago. And our doctors believe that to make a decision about vaccination, you need to focus on the indicator of the level of antibodies to the coronavirus.

Many patients who have been ill complain of the severe consequences of the disease. Can you give me any advice?

At the beginning of the pandemic, there were problems with the provision of medicines and personnel. And how is it now?

I have always said, and I will never tire of repeating, that we did not have a shortage in Moscow. We did not lack for anything: neither for medicines, nor for PPE, nor for ventilators, nor for personnel. The Department of Health and the city government provided any assistance we needed immediately. We have not heard the word “no”. Thanks to this approach, we were able toconvert a huge multi-specialty hospital into an infectious diseases hospital in just 7 days. The work was then carried out around the clock, all the services of the city were involved. They rebuilt existing buildings, erected buildings, drew electricity and oxygen. The hospital was like a buzzing hive. But we did it.

The second time the conversion was easier?

– Yes, much easier. We already know what is needed to return to the covid. We do this confidently and steadily, as far as the current situation allows.

& mdash; Will you continue to provide planned assistance?

– No, for the safety of patients, this is excluded. Planned patients will be assisted by other specialized hospitals.

But COVID-19 patients may have other chronic diseases. How will they then treat, for example, diabetes?

Of course, coronavirus patients also need multidisciplinary care. And this is the help they need to provide.

Can we do without a lockdown?

-I would very much like to hope. The extension of the May holidays improved the epidemiological situation. Perhaps these impromptu holidays from June 12 to June 20 will lead to a decrease in the incidence of diseases. Provided that each of us will observe all the necessary precautions: social distance, use of masks, refusal to visit places of mass gathering of people. And & nbsp; plus vaccination. Then we can return to normal life, as did, for example, the UAE and Israel.

Источник aif.ru

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