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Yesterday Hong Kong reported a doubling of COVID cases and enacted stringent new pandemic rules (see Hong Kong Enacts Strictest Control Measures Of The Pandemic As Cases Rise) as the Omicron variant continues to spread through their community.
While generally `milder' than Delta - Omicron is far from benign - and local emergency rooms are beginning to feel the strain - particularly due to the `worried, but only mildly ill'.
While Hong Kong continues to try to adhere to their strict `Zero-COVID' policies - increasing cases are forcing them to adjust quarantine and testing procedures - and has led to the following announcement from the HK Hospital Authority.
People with positive rapid test should not go to emergency room
February 9, 2022
The Hospital Authority urges members of the public who have tested positive for the COVID-19 rapid antigen test to seek assistance from family members and friends as much as possible, or submit deep throat saliva samples through courier services, and wait patiently for the results at home, instead of going to the A&E department.
The COVID-19 epidemic is becoming more and more severe. Li Liye, Chief Administrative Manager (Integrated Clinical Services) of the Hospital Authority, said at a briefing today that the capacity of A&E departments in various districts in Hong Kong is seriously overloaded, and even other emergency services are affected.
Do not go to the emergency room, seek medical advice from a family doctor or other private medical services.
Li Liye also pointed out that the number of confirmed cases has grown at an alarming rate. Even if the authorities assess that the patient needs to be admitted to a hospital or a community treatment facility, factors such as the condition, long-term medical history, age, and self-care ability are still taken into consideration. Therefore, the patient may have to wait several days before being admitted to the hospital.
He said that at present, most of the patients have no symptoms or mild symptoms, and the situation is very stable, and he hopes that they will be patient and wait at home. Starting today, the authorities will take the initiative to contact citizens who are in the community waiting to be admitted to the hospital; the "Nurse Bell" telephone support service personnel will give priority to contacting citizens who have been waiting for a long time.
In addition, as hospital isolation facilities and community treatment facilities are saturated, the authorities will further revise the discharge conditions, so that patients who have no clinical symptoms to be treated will not have to wait ten days to be discharged from the hospital. According to the latest guidelines from the Department of Health, such patients can go home directly after being discharged from the hospital and undergo 14-day self-monitoring.
Li Liye said that the beds in the Penny's Bay Community Isolation Facility are about to be exhausted, and the authorities are ready to assist the government in opening more community isolation facilities to receive mildly ill patients, and will deploy hospital staff to the community isolation facility to provide medical station services. He pointed out that there is a need for the authorities to gradually reduce non-emergency services, and specialist outpatients can choose drug refilling services.
Today's Hospital Authority Key statistics on service demand of A&E Departments and occupancy rates in public hospitals shows that most hospitals still have some reserve capacity (assuming they can staff their beds), but those numbers are eroding with each passing day.
A reminder that even a `milder' COVID variant can negatively impact healthcare delivery services, and that can adversely affect a lot of people, even those with non-COVID medical needs.
