Feel the epidemic in rural Changzhi, Shanxi: the peak has passed in some villages

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“The prevention and control policy has been optimized, and this year friends and relatives are definitely going to pay their respects to each other.” On the 10th, Ma Xubin, a health worker at the village health clinic in Zaozhen Village, Lucheng District, Changzhi City, Shanxi Province, told the Global Times that villagers in the village have already passed a fever and the peak has already passed.

From January 8, China officially began to implement the new coronavirus infection “Class B B control”. The State Council joint prevention and control mechanism of the Spring Festival work team preliminary analysis and research, the total passenger flow during the 2023 Spring Festival is about 2.095 billion, an increase of 99.5% over the same period last year, recovering to 70.3% of the same period in 2019. In an interview with CCTV, Jiao Yahui, Director General of the Medical Department of the National Health and Wellness Commission, said that before the Spring Festival, small and medium-sized cities and rural areas have already seen the peak of infection. Based on this trend, it is possible to see a peak of emergency and serious illnesses in these small and medium-sized cities and rural areas during the Spring Festival.

Zhou Lurong, vice president of Changzhi People’s Hospital in Shanxi Province, told the Global Times that in order to deal with the possibility of a new infection peak due to the large movement of people during the Spring Festival, the local authorities have made adequate preparations in all aspects, including personnel, materials, drug security and beds, to ensure that they are prepared.

Villagers feel: the peak of the epidemic has passed

In the reporter’s interview, there was no significant time difference between the peak of local infection and the first and second tier cities. Ma Xubin said, “About half a month ago was the peak of infection, the symptoms are fever, body aches, and the Internet said the disease is consistent, now the peak has basically passed.”

Yang Yongcai, a villager from Changzhuang village next door to Zaozhen village, told the Global Times on the 10th that he was symptomatic on December 19, coughing and tired and sleepy on his body, “probably in mid-December, cases appeared in the village off and on, and we commonly call ‘one Yang in the family, the whole family is Yang’. ” Yang Yongcai did not go to the hospital for treatment, infusion in the village’s private clinic, he recalled that there are more than 40 people in the clinic every day, from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm, “this morning I also went to infusion, there are much fewer people, probably only a dozen people.”

Zaozhen village and adjacent villages in recent years have purchased commercial buildings in the county and urban areas, the village and the county, urban areas between the close traffic, villagers believe that this may be a reason for the rapid spread of the virus. In addition, there are also villagers believe that the local drivers running trucks are also many, villagers are almost synchronized “Yang”.

During the reporter’s interview at the Zaozhen health clinic, there were patients coughing to buy compound licorice tablets, Ma Xubin said, the peak period, the villagers are also in the major pharmacies to grab drugs, paracetamol, cold capsules, Anacin tablets are sought-after goods.

Yang Yongcai was also distributed six tablets of ibuprofen, he thinks these drugs are very useful, he told reporters, people are a little worried about whether there will be a second wave of the epidemic, but there has been an experience, the psychological panic has been reduced a lot. Now families have started to prepare for the New Year and have a good New Year.

94-year-old patient discharged from hospital after treatment

A pink notice was posted on the wall of Zaozhen village health center: “Fever patients: please go to the fever clinic of Lucheng District People’s Hospital”. In the health center of Dianshang Town, the reporter also saw the relevant tips: “This institution does not have a fever clinic and does not accept patients with fever and cough”. The young people in the village are not affected much, but it is still a challenge for the elderly with underlying diseases, we suggest that they be sent directly to the district hospital and the city hospital, which has a fever clinic that can administer oxygen and has a ventilator with all kinds of facilities, and the treatment is also more standardized.

On December 31, 2022, 94-year-old Master Shen was admitted to Lucheng District People’s Hospital with a new crown infection, “the situation was urgent, and the fever did not go down for two days at home, and he was admitted to the hospital overnight.” The daughter of Grandpa Shen told the Global Times that the hospital beds were particularly tight and hard to find, and we were first given an infusion in a temporary bed before being officially admitted. The vast majority of those hospitalized were elderly, and senior citizens, the vast majority with underlying medical conditions.

“CT examination my father had a third of white lung, during the hospitalization took Pfizer new crown drug (Paxlovid), high fever was quickly controlled, and then continued antiviral treatment, although CT showed that the pneumonia inflammation is not fully absorbed, cough also still some phlegm, but the condition stabilized, you can go home and slowly recover.” On the 10th, after 10 days of admission, Master Shen was discharged home to recuperate, Master Shen’s daughter said, compared to 10 days ago, the bed is still very tight, but compared to the previous feeling relatively calm.

Changzhi City People’s Hospital: for patients coming to the hospital to do as much as possible, should be treated as much as possible

Checking signs, monitoring oxygen saturation, asking about the condition ……1 morning, the reporter interview, Changzhi City People’s Hospital respiratory and critical care medicine inpatient department a busy scene, deputy director of the department Li Jin explained to the patient’s family after the treatment plan, and with the attending doctors on the patient’s situation in charge of key tips.

The Changzhi People’s Hospital is a tertiary-level general hospital that integrates medical care, teaching, scientific research, and emergency rescue for public health emergencies. In the past 20 days, the Changzhi People’s Hospital has seen a sharp increase in outpatients and inpatients, which is the highest pressure, highest risk and heaviest task since the prevention and control of the new crown epidemic, a “big test”.

For Li Jin and his colleagues, it was a tough “battle”. “When the first wave of virus infection hit, medical staff tested positive, fever, headache, vomiting …… sickness not only tortured the patients who visited the hospital, but also tormented the patients. patients who attended the clinic, but also tormented the health care workers, many health care with sickness on duty, but still a large shortage of personnel.” From December 20, 2022, the number of patients began to grow rapidly, “our department originally only two wards 82 beds, in a very short time full of patients, and then the number of patients doubled, the hospital made emergency arrangements for deployment, from 2 wards to 8 wards, the beds are still full.” Li Jin was the first of the medical staff to test positive, and now 20 days have passed and he still keeps coughing when he speaks. Like Li Jin, most of the doctors and nurses in the hospital are on duty with sickness, resolutely returning to work as soon as their symptoms are slightly reduced, and even taking on more work tasks to hold the umbrella of life for patients with new crown infections.

As an important department for the treatment of patients with acute and critical illnesses, the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) took the lead and became the “main battle zone” in the war against the “epidemic”, “5-bed call, 21-bed call, 17-bed call”. ……” pushed open the door of the ICU, in the bed call bell, in the “ticking” sound of various monitoring instruments, the medical and nursing staff kept walking between the beds, intubating the patients, putting on the ventilator, lowering the tracheoscope, ECMO treatment, and so on. The medical and nursing staff were constantly shuttling between the beds, intubating patients, putting on ventilators, putting down tracheoscopes, ECMO treatment, blood purification treatment, etc. Cheng Yadong, director of the Department of Critical Care Medicine, told the Global Times that with all the beds admitted, the hospital added a new ward and the workload has doubled 3-4 times compared to the previous one, “In order to maximize critical care, we conduct case analysis and discussion for each patient admitted and develop a ‘one person, one strategy The treatment plan.” Cheng Yadong introduced, “One patient, 60 years old, developed high fever, respiratory distress and loss of consciousness after a new coronary infection, and was sent to us after emergency out-of-hospital resuscitation of tracheal intubation. The patient had difficulty maintaining oxygenation and unstable circulation, and we decided to implement ECMO treatment after active discussion and communication with the family. After 9 days of ECMO treatment, this patient was successfully withdrawn and is now recovering well.”

Zhou Lurong, vice president of Changzhi People’s Hospital, said, “Patients are increasing rapidly, and the hospital is strictly implementing 18 core systems of medical safety, such as the first consultation system, consultation system, emergency critical care patient rescue system and death case discussion system, etc. The hospital wards are integrated and divided into critical care wards, sub-critical care wards and general wards, and the medical and nursing staffs of each ward are determined. person in charge, and reorganized beds, increasing beds in the internal medicine system and beds for the admission of critical patients, merging the surgical system into the unified management of the internal medicine system, and implementing ‘surgical admission, internal medicine management’, with scientific classification and precise services to ensure standardized and effective medical treatment.”

Zhou Lurong introduced that around the New Year’s Day holiday in 2023 was the peak period of local viral infections, and as of the 10th, the hospital had nearly 1,500 inpatients, with the proportion of serious illnesses exceeding 60%, and most of the serious patients were elderly people with underlying diseases. The hospital has implemented the mechanism of “two smooth, one enhancement, two guarantees” to admit and treat as many patients as possible. According to the relevant leaders of the hospital, in addition to the hospital critical care medicine department in a very short period of time to complete the ICU bed expansion, convertible ICU beds, emergency ICU, the hospital integrated ICU, as well as various clinical specialties ICU, a total of 104 beds, to ensure that the treatment of critically ill patients.

According to the introduction, “two smooth” that is, smooth emergency and specialist admission channels; “one enhancement” that is, enhance the critical care force; “two guarantees” that is, to protect the fever clinic and logistics work. The hospital’s emergency clinic is another important position in the implementation of the “two open channels”. Zhou Lurong said that most of the patients from the surrounding districts (counties) come to the hospital through the emergency way, so the pressure on the medical staff in the emergency department can be imagined. Therefore, the hospital opened a smooth emergency, requiring patients in the emergency department treatment time of no more than 24 hours, “we must find ways to make emergency patients hospitalized, for this reason, the hospital wards are immediately adjusted to the pattern of each department, additional beds, equipped with equipment, mobilization of personnel, so to speak, the entire hospital medical and nursing are put into the front line of treatment, night and day to keep their posts. This week, the growth rate of the number of patients has decreased, but it is still difficult to find a bed.”

As the city’s largest tertiary hospital, in order to ensure that each emergency patient can be admitted to the ward within 24 hours, Changzhi People’s Hospital expanded to include general practice, geriatrics and other 11 wards to treat patients with new crowns, other departments also provide two or thirty percent of the number of beds, “from the beginning, we clearly can not refuse a patient, the conditions in extraordinary times Some tough, but we insisted on doing it.” The relevant leaders above said that at the same time, while treating patients with new crowns, the hospital has open channels for patient protection, including maternal, stroke and tumor patients, to guarantee the health and life safety of patients.

Zhou Lurong said that since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in 2020, the hospital has sent medical teams to Wuhan, Zhengzhou, Shanghai, Changchun and other places to support the fight against the epidemic, and has accumulated some clinical experience. With the arrival of the peak of the new crown infection, the hospital’s medical staff, in addition to being responsible for the treatment of patients in the hospital, also went to district and county hospitals respectively to conduct offline consultations for seriously ill patients and guide district and county medical staff to start effective treatment, and opened an Internet hospital online consultation and hotline consultation service to meet patients’ consultation needs through multiple channels.

Now that the Spring Festival is approaching and a large flow of personnel may lead to a new climax of infection, Zhou Lurong firmly said, “At present, the hospital is fully prepared in all aspects such as personnel, materials, drug security and beds to ensure that it is prepared.”