younger and younger patients at the Nice hospital

Professor Michel Carles Head of the advanced infectious disease department at l’Archet hospital in Nice (CHU) explains that while people over 70 are still the most affected by the epidemic, “we are hospitalizing more and more people aged between 50 and 65 without comorbidities, without associated pathology … we haven’t had them in recent months. Some people, moreover, are taken care of quite late because they did not experience severe breathing difficulties and lack of oxygen at home.

a 25-year-old athlete hospitalized for COVID

Elisa Demonchy recently treated in the ward a young woman who after childbirth developed “severe pneumonia“. She had to be placed in intensive care. And for a few days, the service has been in charge” a young woman of 25, without any disease, athletic and without overweight… The disease surprises and worries patients and their families. The young people did not feel concerned at all until now “.

new cases to analyze

For Professor Carles it will take a little more time to take a step back and analyze all these new entries of these younger patients in the hospital. “No doubt the fact that the epidemic is circulating more strongly in the Alpes Maritimes department also results in proportionally more cases in all age groups … therefore also among young people“Elisa Demonchy advance.

the disease progresses very quickly

Another trend: ” the disease progresses very quickly“explains Doctor Demonchy. The battle to maintain sufficient oxygen levels is ongoing car “patients can quickly desaturate, that is to say that the rate of oxygenation in the blood in an hour can collapse or rise again … we often have to change patients several times between resuscitation, intensive care or conventional beds “ Very demanding patient flow management. Caregivers throughout the care chain must constantly adapt.

32 of the 40 beds of the infectious disease department of l’Archet are now occupied by COVID patients. The service hosted nearly 900 COVID patients in 5 months. Never has a single infectious disease here resulted in such a high proportion of patients.

The incidence rate exceeds 530 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Nice in several sectors.

–