Health system coping with spike so far

The spike recorded in the daily number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Greece has so far not been accompanied by corresponding pressure on the National Health System (ESY), according to health authorities who say that in any case it had already been reinforced with extra staff after the pandemic began. 

Indicatively, on Thursday, 14 intubated patients were hospitalized in intensive care units. The number of cases in which patients were intubated and placed in ICU beds increased rapidly during the early days of the pandemic, in March, and reached its highest point in early April – 90 intubations and about 100 in ICUs in the first 10 days of April.

However, there has since been a de-escalation and the number of intubations stabilized at low levels in June and July (between five and 13 patients). This was followed by a slight increase in early August (between 10 and 14 patients).

Despite rising in recent days, the number of patients admitted to hospital but not placed in an ICU remains low. According to health authorities, 72 patients were in non-ICU coronavirus wards in ESY hospitals Friday at noon.

One reason why the pressure remains relatively low is the clear shift of positive cases to younger age groups, and therefore less vulnerable members of the population.

At the beginning of the epidemic, the age group with the most cases was that around 60 years of age. In April most of those found to be infected with Covid were around 50 years old and in August the age group was 20-40 years.