Romania has recently been facing an increase in the number of cases of COVID-19, several doctors from Bucharest, Cluj and Iași told “Adevărul” that they have noticed an overcrowding in the emergency rooms of major hospitals. This is also confirmed by the specialists of the National Institute of Public Health. According to the data provided, in the last week there were 80% more cases than last week. It is, more precisely, about a number of 1,256 new illnesses.
Illnesses with Covid, blamed on summer vacations. Photo source: archive
The number of patients sick with COVID increased considerably from one week to the next, but also from one month to the next. “Here, at Matei Balș, we have around 15-20 people hospitalized with COVID, both adults and children. I can’t say that the hospital is full or that we are talking about a new epidemic wave. But really, compared to last month, for example, we’ve seen an increase of..say..10, maybe 15% in the number of confirmed cases,” said Dr. Cătălin Apostolescu, director of the “Matei Balș” National Institute of Infectious Diseases, for “Adevărul”. “However, they are not serious cases”warns the doctor. “In intensive care, for example, we don’t have any patients.”
Instead, doctor Cătălin Apostolache raises another alarm: the hospital is dealing with a large number of children sick with measles. “We are talking about a disease that normally should have disappeared. Let’s not forget that measles is an eradicable disease. Therefore, we shouldn’t have had measles at all. And the fact that I have daily up to 10-15 presentations with measles is a very serious matter. If I have 10-15 presentations a day with Covid, it doesn’t have the same meaning. COVID cannot be eradicated by vaccine. Here is the problem. That there are many parents who still do not vaccinate their children against measles”.
Infectious disease doctor: “The increase has been observed for about a month”
“It is obvious at the level of Europe, automatically also in Romania, that there is an increase”, Dr. Adrian Marinescu, an infectious disease doctor at the same hospital, also told us. “And this increase is about a month. But we don’t need to be alarmed because in our coexistence with the virus it is possible to have such increases. Why just now? It’s simple. Wherever in Europe people are on vacation, they interact a lot with each other, and this is reflected in a higher transmission of the virus. And once this roller coaster starts, it won’t stop overnight. I expect that in August and even in September there will be cases”.
The doctor advises us not to be alarmed. “Fortunately, the forms of illness are mild, with virosis symptoms. Serious cases are rare, and they are recorded especially in the case of those with chronic conditions or in the case of elderly people. We are not talking about any other variant of the virus, any new wave or pandemic. This coexistence with SARS-CoV-2 has stages in which it is harmonious and stages in which it is less harmonious”.
In the fall, the number of illnesses will decrease, the infectious disease doctor believes. “But the decline will not happen overnight or in a second. I expect the number of illnesses to decrease after the vacation period. I do not worry. Obviously, those who want to get vaccinated can still do so, but immunization is now recommended especially for vulnerable people. Prevention is the mother of health and is more than enough,” also recommends Dr. Marinescu.
And at the Victor Babeș Hospital for Infectious and Tropical Diseases in Bucharest, the number of patients with Covid has increased quite a lot recently. The patients are generally elderly people who also suffer from other conditions, many of them chronic. These are the ones who make the more severe forms of the disease. “Our suspicion is that many of the mild forms – in young people or people with no other health problems – do not reach the hospital and are not officially diagnosed. This is because it is very possible that the disease manifests itself like a classic cold, and people do not go to the doctor. Only the more serious cases reach the hospital and that is how they are diagnosed with COVID”, said Dr. Simin Aysel Florescu, the manager of the hospital.
Family doctor from Cluj. “Five sick patients in one week”
The situation in Bucharest is also found in the country’s big cities. In Cluj, for example. The family doctor Emiliana Costiug confessed to us that, indeed, in the last period at the office she is dealing with an increased number of cases. “We noticed it too. After a lull, when we didn’t detect cases of Covid infection, here they started to appear. This week alone at my office I had about 5 cases confirmed by rapid test. The patients are young people and children, and fortunately there was no need for hospitalization. We are talking about mild cases. With oxygen saturation normal, without respiratory failure, only with pseudo-flu symptoms such as fever, muscle pain, cough, and in some cases also with mild lung damage”.
In Cuj, the cases of Covid-19 started to multiply, especially in the last two weeks. “Compared to the beginning of July, the first week to be exact, there is now an increase. Last week at my office I had one case, this week I already have five”, said Dr. Emiliana Costiug.
The doctor is slightly surprised by the fact that we have an increase during the summer, this in the idea that the virus becomes more active in the cold season. “But let’s not forget, we are in the holiday season, people travel a lot, mobility in this season is very high. It was, somehow, to be expected. Then, the heatwave made us shelter in closed and cool spaces, where the virus circulates and we can take it much easier. Especially since people no longer get vaccinated and don’t even wear protective masks”.
But, the doctor also says, the increase in the number of Covid cases may also be a consequence of the outdoor concerts and festivals that took place this summer. “It is about large gatherings of people, even if they were in the open air. I think that also leads to the transmission of viruses. Plus our lower immunity post pandemic”.
Doctor Emiliana Coștiug from Cluj hopes that in the fall we will not register any considerable increase. “We do, however, have herd immunity built up by vaccination and going through illness. I hope that this virus will be a friendly form, that it will not give us trouble, that it will act like a simple virus and that we will have the possibility to keep it under control. I expect that this wave will reduce over time, and when school starts, there will be no more problems”.
The manager of the Infectious Diseases hospital in Iași: “The number of hospitalized patients is increasing”
Dr. Florin Roșu, manager of the Hospital for Infectious Diseases from Iași, stated for “Adevărul” that here too we are seeing an increase in the number of Covid cases. “This month, compared to last month, we had somewhere around 10 to 25 patients requiring hospitalization. In June, for example, we had a maximum of three. It is not an alarming increase at the moment. Currently, we have around 15 patients hospitalized. These are average cases, not severe. But there are also patients who present themselves in the hospital triage, who benefit from specialist consultation, laboratory and radiological analyses, receive medical indications, a prescription and follow outpatient treatment. They are people with mild symptoms who do not require hospitalization”.
The virus has not disappeared and is not seasonal, continues the doctor. “SARS-CoV-2 behaved atypically from the beginning. Everything we learned in medical school and knew from medical practice about viral pathology was turned upside down. We are talking about an atypical virus. Viruses they are the prerogative of the cold season, but SARS-CoV-2 is not seasonal. It is my opinion. And now it has erupted amid the holidays in which people have gone. Not to mention the urban crowds during festivals and outdoor concerts. The transmission rate is now much higher. That is probably why we are witnessing an increase in the number of illnesses”.
Currently, the doctor says, the Omicron variant is dominant. “In Europe, on the other hand, more precisely in England, a sub-variant has appeared which is called FLiRT. It can also cause severe forms of the disease. But we should not be afraid at the moment, we should only be cautious. In any case, we cannot stop this movement of the virus, because Covid becomes a pathology of the traveler. Instead, we can protect ourselves.”
In recent weeks, an increase in cases of Covid-19 is visible across Europe. The mini-wave of COVID originates from a sub-variant of the Omicron strain: JN1. Regarding the symptoms of the disease caused by this new sub-variant of Omicron, doctors say that there are no special symptoms compared to those known so far.
The situation in Romania: over 1,200 illnesses and 5 deaths in the last week
1,256 new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 (the disease COVID-19) were registered in Romania in the last week, an increase of 82.3% compared to the previous week, according to the data of the National Institute of Public Health.
Also, in the last week there were 5 due to COVID-19. All 5 victims also suffered from other conditions, and 3 of them were vaccinated.
In total, since the beginning of the pandemic, in 2020, 3,534,314 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were officially registered in Romania, and 68,962 people diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection died.
