More and more offices, workshops and production halls are deserted. The reason is that many people currently have to stay in bed. More than 260,000 sick days were counted across Austria last week.
But it is not only the classic flu that is to blame, as is traditionally the case at this time of year, because the number of coronavirus infections is now rising again. In Upper Austria alone, around 3,000 positive cases were recently registered. A month ago, the figure was just over half that, at around 1,700 people.
“The viral load has been rising slowly but steadily since the beginning of September,” the “Oberösterreichische Nachrichten” quotes the office of the responsible Deputy Governor Christine Haberlander (VP). They say the number is now roughly at the November 2022 level, referring to the national wastewater monitoring system.
Six patients with the novel virus are currently being treated in the regular ward there. Hospital occupancy is also comparatively low throughout Austria.
So-called quadruple tests are being carried out at the hospital in the provincial capital. In addition to COVID-19, tests are carried out for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which is particularly dangerous for babies, as well as influenza A and B. “We are noticing that the coronavirus is currently dominating,” reports Lamprecht.
It will be several weeks before the influenza wave reaches its peak. “We already have isolated cases, with travel returnees affected. But experience shows that the peak of influenza is not reached until January or February,” says the lung expert. The incidence of RSV infections is also currently stable.
A new study shows how long children should stay home if infected with the Omikron variants currently circulating. A team of US researchers examined 76 people between the ages of seven and 18.
The result is that the children are infectious for an average of three days. But around a fifth could still infect others on the fifth day, according to the scientists.
- source: heute.at/picture: pixabay.com
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