Since the epidemic was relaxed on December 7, the national nucleic acid test has been cancelled, the itinerary code has been offline, and cross-regional isolation is no longer required. Everything is returning to normal life.
But while people were happy, the new coronavirus was not happy. In just a few days, the infection rate in Beijing, a super city with a population of more than 20 million, exceeded 80%. The number of infected people surged, and the seriousness rate remained high. For a while, the epidemic in Beijing fell into a stalemate again.
According to the data model, most of the peak infection peaks in the country have now passed the peak , and the growth in the number of infected people has stabilized. However, with the crazy spread of virus , the peak of severe illness has quietly appeared. This is the biggest challenge after the epidemic is relaxed. After all, the mortality rate of new crown is basically related to acute and severe illness.
Perhaps this is the peak of serious illness. Professor Zhang Wenhong also came forward to speak out and bring everyone good news and two bad news, hoping to help the next epidemic trend.
The first bad news
In fact, fever, body aches, and a knife-like throat can only be considered mild symptoms if infected with the new coronavirus. What is really scary about the new coronavirus is that it damages the human lungs, causing viral pneumonia , which is what we often call "white lungs."
Professor Zhang Wenhong has also been very concerned about the "white lung" situation recently. He believes that with the increase in the number of infections, there will definitely be more and more "white lung" problems in the future. Especially in big cities, like Shanghai, which has a large population base and a fast infection rate, there will be more and more serious people with "white lung" in the future.
White lung refers to the appearance of large white lesions in the lung tissue of patients during chest X-ray examination or chest CT examination. White lung symptoms are more common in severe pneumonia. It can be due to the fact that lung inflammation is not effectively controlled after infection by bacteria, viruses or other harmful microorganisms, and the lung tissue is further infiltrated by inflammation, resulting in severe lung infection.
The treatment of white lung will require a large amount of medical resources , but now the country's medical resources have been occupied by patients infected with the new coronavirus, critical ICUs are already overcrowded, and available ventilators are working at high load around the clock. Therefore, if there is a surge in severely infected patients, it will have a great impact on the national medical system.
According to Zhang Wenhong's description, Shanghai began to peak infections on December 22, 2022. Now the number of infected people has exceeded 10 million, of which the severe rate is 0.5%. Then there will be 50,000 severe cases. The emergence of so many severe infections at one time will put a lot of pressure on Shanghai's hospitals. , so in the future, "white lung" will be the biggest challenge to the medical system.
The second bad news
After New Year's Day, there will be a peak of returning home during the Spring Festival. At that time, the population flow will fluctuate greatly. With such a strong transmission ability, the peak of returning home before and after the Spring Festival will have a great impact on the epidemic infection.
Zhang Wenhong said that the spread of the epidemic in small places may not be as violent as that in big cities, but because of the long transmission time, with the migration and influx of people returning home, it may cause a wave of local epidemic peaks. If the original infection rate in this area is already high, the impact will be very small. If the original infection rate in qualified places has been very low, then the Spring Festival wave may have a big impact, and large-scale gatherings must be reduced.
In fact, the news brought by Zhang Wenhong is also that many people in small cities are worried about, especially now that the foreign XBB.1.5 virus has begun to spread on a large scale. Compared with the strains we have been infected with, this strain will cause harm to the human gastrointestinal system and cardiovascular system.
When the first wave of infection peaked, many people already had trouble with fever, cough, and body aches. If the XBB.1.5 virus is allowed to spread this time, I don’t know how many people will suffer again.
But regarding the question of whether XBB.1.5 will cause a new peak of infections in mainland China, Professor Zhang Jiming, deputy director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Huashan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University, said: "There is no need to worry, it is a bit exaggerated."
Since experts say that this new strain will not do much harm to us, then we should just pay attention to protection.
Good news
Timely vaccination and enhanced nutrition will greatly reduce the occurrence of severe illness.
Zhang Wenhong said that he had experienced an infection and the symptoms were very mild. On the first day of the infection, he also held 6 or 7 online meetings. On the second day, he went to the -positive ward for ward rounds. No one around him felt that he was infected. These good performances made Zhang Wenhong even more convinced of the importance of getting the vaccine .
Zhang Wenhong later said that according to data from Shanghai in the first half of the year, the severe disease rate after vaccination can be reduced by nearly 80%, and the vaccine is effective in the occurrence of white lung.
The vaccine's ability to defend against viruses is obvious to all, so Zhang Wenhong also said that the vaccination rate for people over 60 years old should be increased as soon as possible, preferably to more than 90%.
Zhang Wenhong said that once the vaccination rate catches up, the case fatality rate will be reduced when the epidemic peaks next.
In addition to the vaccine , Zhang Wenhong also said that the nutritional supply of infected people should be strengthened , nutrition is the basis for the treatment of new coronavirus infection. Only with nutrition can you have resistance . The importance of nutrition cannot be overemphasized. We hope that during this period, all infected people or elderly people under home observation must pay special attention to increasing nutrition, including a diverse and balanced intake of vegetables, carbohydrates, etc., and the intake of high-quality protein is a top priority.
I have to say that these three pieces of news brought by Zhang Wenhong will indeed be helpful to the future trend of the epidemic. After the peak of severe epidemics, the phenomenon of "white lungs" has increased. If not taken seriously, the fatality rate of severe cases will increase. Therefore, it is very meaningful for Zhang Wenhong to propose that everyone should pay attention to "white lungs".
Zhang Wenhong also proposed that there will be a new small-scale infection peak around the Spring Festival. This is also a very important signal. Don’t think that everything will be fine once you are infected once. Once a new strain appears, you must pay attention to it, so everyone should also pay attention to personal protection when returning home during the Spring Festival.
Do you think there will be a second wave of infection peak in the short term?
