快猫短视频

LIFE as a general practitioner slowly started returning to normal after the summer. I saw only one patient with 鈥渓ong covid鈥� and none with covid-19 symptoms during September. The local 鈥渉ot hub鈥� that I helped to set up to deal with people who potentially had covid-19 closed on 28 August amid single-digit cases in the area.

Sadly, it wasn鈥檛 to last. Last week saw record numbers of daily diagnosed cases in the UK, reaching well in excess of 7000. Restrictions are tightening, and however the government chooses to handle things, many people will become unwell.

I am worried. Doctors鈥� surgeries are likely to get overwhelmed again, and there is no doubt that more patients will be redirected to emergency departments.

One of the difficulties facing us as doctors will be assessing people with symptoms also seen in covid-19. Meningitis in children and young people can present with a high temperature and is far more dangerous than covid-19. Many adults 鈥� especially those who smoke or have breathing problems 鈥� get chest infections in winter, which are also clinically indistinguishable from covid-19.

The key to making a correct diagnosis and giving appropriate treatment will be the availability of fast and accurate testing. But currently, children and adults with new covid-19 symptoms have to self-isolate because they can鈥檛 access a test, fuelling disruption. It also means vulnerable older people might have to self-isolate and so lose some of the care and company they may receive.

Then there is flu, the known unknown. Every year, vaccine manufacturers predict which flu strains to protect against. In a good year, when the actual flu viruses match the vaccine, you are over 40 per cent less likely to get ill from flu if you get the vaccine than someone who hasn鈥檛 had it. In recent years, the number of annual UK flu deaths has varied from 4000 to 22,000, and 88 per cent of those who died were over 65.

We don鈥檛 yet know what flu and covid-19 circulating in the population at the same time will mean. Social distancing and an increase in hygiene awareness may reduce the spread of flu.

While we also don鈥檛 know whether people will get both at once, covid-19 and flu both disproportionately affect older people and the risk increases with age. Having two illness with such targeted victims will make this winter stressful and possibly dangerous for older people.

We need to hope that flu vaccine manufacturers have forecasted well, and can produce enough vaccine doses for increased demand. My own practice has run out until our next delivery in a few weeks. Whatever happens, the winter will be tough, but we must be able minimise the harms. The availability of flu jabs and coronavirus tests will be vital.