How many are catching covid in hospital?

[lynsey91]

It seems Sir Tom most likely caught covid in hospital. My dad definitely caught it in hospital although they sent him home with a negative test.

He died 4 days later and my mum who obviously caught it from him died 2 weeks after him. This was last month.

Considering hospitals are not allowing visitors - even though my mum basically went in to die we were not allowed to visit - and staff are wearing ppe and the cleaning should be even more stringent than it was before just why and how are so many people catching it there?

My family spent from March 2020 until January 2021 keeping my parents safe. They had not been out of the house once and then dad got admitted to hospital. Mum was not allowed to visit so she did not go out even once in that time.

My sister got their shopping every week and left it on their doorstop. I live quite a distance away and would normally visit every 3 weeks. I visited twice between March and December and wore a mask both times and kept a distance.

I now feel why did we bother. No hugs in almost a year, no visits etc and all for nothing.

The annoying thing is dad was taken in for something the paramedic thought was wrong with him but there was nothing wrong. I don't blame the paramedic at all but am angry at the hospital.

Me and my siblings were really worried about covid when dad was admitted to hospital and sadly it turns out we were right to be. Hospitals do not seem to be safe places to be at present.

Apparently cases of Moro virus and flu are almost zero in hospital directly attributed to infection control, they are at a loss as to how Covid is therefore spreading in hospitals. They are looking at Covid incubation and infection period prior to symptoms, there is a strong suspicion that they have vastly underestimated these periods.

Staff in hospitals need proper PPE a proper fit tested masks for all!

My FIL caught Covid in hospital and subsequently died last year. He died of a heart attack and as he was extremely frail it's possible the strain of recovering from an op was the root cause. Still it may well have put his body under extra stress. He was in a non Covid ward and the first infected patient wasn't in that ward but in a nearby room.

My dad went into hospital before Christmas with a spinal infection. He contracted covid and died last week. I sat with him in his final 3 days wearing PPE, but I have just tested positive.

Whilst I was in I realised that despite best efforts some patients (with dementia) could just escape and wander about. Some nurses worked between covid and non covid wards and hadn’t had vaccine yet. Also, people are just infectious before they realise. They move around the hospital getting stuff from the shop, going out for a fag, go in for routine checks.

Unfortunately it happens. I am pissed off that when they realised my dad would be in for a while they didn’t vaccinate him straight away.

My 94yo Grandmother died last week from Covid. DM and I could visit for her last few days, and the hospital was incredible with regards to cleanliness and PPE. She'd caught it in her nursing home. We still don't know how it got in, neither do they, but once it was in it spread like wildfire. We'd managed to keep her safe all this time, even at home with daily carers. It got in anyway and she hadn't had the vaccine yet.

@FizzyPepsi and how many hospital staff are contracting the disease from patients. Works both ways.

What do you suggest? Using robots?

It’s a highly contagious disease spread by human contact. Care cannot be given 2 metres away.

Sadly it is very common. Hospitals nowadays are not built correctly for infection control - they have windows that barely open so people don't jump out, but that means fresh air doesn't get in.

A virus that spreads in the air will spread indoors and there's not much you can do about that, whether it's a hospital ward, a house, a school or a pub. Proper masks would help, but you can't stop it entirely and I would assume it would be very difficult for Covid+ patients to wear a fitted mask as well as breathing/oxygen apparatus.

Around 20% of all covid cases. 25% in some parts of the country. Slightly ironic our healthcare system is literally killing people they're meant to help. Then there's care home cases, which at the start of the pandemic accounted for more than 40% of all covid cases (in Scotland anyway), and still accounts for a huge number of cases. Leaves me wondering just how widespread covid in the community actually is, certainly community cases are in the minority and far fewer than hospital and care home acquired cases.
I'm really not sure why there isn't more of an uproar about this, barely gets mentioned in the press.

I know of three people who were admitted into hospital in the last few months and all three caught covid whilst in hospital.

Reading that someone caught it in a maternity unit fills me with dread. I'm due next month and baby is likely to need antibiotics when he gets here due a problem that's been picked up. As if new mums aren't anxious enough already

When dad was in hospital we begged them to give him the vaccination but they wouldn't. We had no idea when he would get it as he was bed bound and his GP was not willing to do the vaccination at mum and dad's home.

Dad was in his 90's and had dementia. Although, obviously, upset about his death, I felt I could deal with it to an extent because his quality of life was almost non existent. Mum though was reasonably healthy and, having had a pretty rough few years looking after dad (he could be violent to her and nasty because of the dementia) should have had a few more peaceful years.

I am so sorry OP, that is heartbreaking.

My MIL caught covid in hospital, she had been transferred to a rehab ward at a different hospital (had been in hospital following a fall) and then another patient was transferred who later tested positive.

She is now in a temporary care home, but one with an isolation wing so was taken there to finish off her isolation period. Thankfully she came through with not even a cough, but obviously many others are not so fortunate.

Sadly it's very, very common (at least amongst in patients) and there doesnt seem to be anything they can do to stop it. Side rooms are full of the dying and other people are in 4, or 6, or 8 bedded wards. People come in, test negative, get sent to the green zone then 24 or 48 hours later - bang, they're positive and by that point have spread it to those around them.

My MIL hasn't been vaccinated either, we were told she would have it when she was discharged. So not very helpful really.

All three of the elderly people I know in the past 3 months who have been admitted to hospital have contracted Covid whilst in there. One was discharged with Covid back home and the other two died in hospital.

I really sorry. That's not good. Actually I spent a whole day at hospital myself nearly a fortnight ago, and I have been fine. It was a really infected hospital, too. That said, I had covid nearly a year ago, so maybe that has helped.

@Porcupineintherough

Sadly it's very, very common (at least amongst in patients) and there doesnt seem to be anything they can do to stop it. Side rooms are full of the dying and other people are in 4, or 6, or 8 bedded wards. People come in, test negative, get sent to the green zone then 24 or 48 hours later - bang, they're positive and by that point have spread it to those around them.

This.

And while the 2m for 15mins was a good public health message to reduce social contacts, I think it’s given people an unrealistic idea of how covid spreads. The reality is that if you are inside with other people for an extended period of time then there is a risk regardless of whether you are 2m apart or not. And while the staff are wearing PPE, I doubt the patients are at all times.

A family member who sadly passed away seems to have caught it in hospital as she was shielding and had not been anywhere else.

A friend of mine who is a midwife thinks she caught it in hospital although she can't be 100% sure as she was also going food shopping occasionally.

Yes I know of one a month ago and heard of another one today . Had gone in with a broken pelvis and caught covid in hospital and is currently very poorly .

I would think one problem is that hospitals are very hard to ventilate properly and if the new variant spreads more quickly you can’t keep masks on all patients at all times . It’s just not possible .

I am not sure there is an answer to this ?

I'm so sorry, OP, that's really heartbreaking for you

It's incredibly difficult to stop the spread completely because it's so contagious. I work on the community and the nature of my role means I only see the odd person with diagnosed covid during the infectious period. I've been lucky and haven't caught it, and have now been vaccinated. However, quite a lot of my district nursing colleagues have had covid because they have no choice but to provide up close treatment to covid positive clients in the community.

Im on another thread at the moment about hospital discharges. It's been explained on there about how assessments for care etc are being carried out post discharge, one of the reasons being that we want to get people home and out of the high risk environment to help prevent the spread of infection. Unfortunately people don't seem to accept that, so discharge teams come up agains opposition from families who don't want their relatives to be discharged, when we know that the longer they are on the ward, the greater the risk of contracting covid (or any other hospital acquired infection).

Patients only wear masks when moving from ward to other parts of the hospital for xray, scans etc. Probably not to use shared bathrooms or during physio sessions. For many it would not be practical to wear on the ward due to nature of their illness. Those with mobility issues are more susceptible to developing worse symptoms or complications.

It also goes the other way to. I’m almost certain that dh bought Covid home few weeks ago. He is a nurse and most people in his team got it at the same time. The lateral test showed this, he didn’t have a symptom but I did. Luckily it was very mild. Dh is very vigilant as I’m cv and ds3 despite being well, he was born prematurely (early enough to require oxygen) and has an allergy.

I do however, believe hospitals are doing what they can to reduce the spread. I know a few people who were discharged from hospital a lot earlier than normal times, to try and reduce spread.

Everyone makes the assumption that hospitals can stop transmission and that the staff pass it around. But staff are wearing masks and trained in hand washing. Meanwhile the patients come in having tested themselves before entry (and we know people generally dont test as well as health care staff do). They test positive when the hospital tests them 3 days later and have been in a non covid ward, maskless, and spreading it for 3 days - so everyone in that ward except the staff will have picked it up and maybe the staff too. However a lot of staff had covid in the first wave.

So - infected patients transmitting it or infected staff and the only way to reduce the risk is to vaccinate everyone before they come in or test daily with good quality tests.

@LIZS

Patients only wear masks when moving from ward to other parts of the hospital for xray, scans etc. Probably not to use shared bathrooms or during physio sessions. For many it would not be practical to wear on the ward due to nature of their illness. Those with mobility issues are more susceptible to developing worse symptoms or complications.

Patients do wear masks at all times in hospitals staff obviously cannot force patients but I know hospitals definitely brought this rule in or that patients had to have their curtains drawn if they wanted to take their masks off.

How far do you want the hospital staff to impose this rule? Must all patients sleep in their masks too? I know some do but we cannot pin the patients down to enforce this.

Patients are supposed to wear masks when going to the bathrooms too.

I've heard of a scary amount of people who are catching covid in hospital. I also wonder why isn't more being said about it along with all the fuss about the staff needing hand cream for their sore hands. Were they not washing their hands enough before ?

@lynsey91 I am so sorry for your losses .

I’m very sorry for your loss op

And others who have lost loved ones