Two weeks ago, only one person was cared for in hospital for covid-19.
On Tuesday, the number had risen to 16 people, three of whom were in the intensive care unit, something that worries the county's infection control doctor.
- These are very worrying levels.
Omikron is clearly more contagious than previous variants.
We do not yet know how care will be affected, but we see that hospital admissions have increased in the county.
When many people become infected, the risk of vulnerable people also increasing increases, says Gunilla Persson, acting infection control doctor.
Both vaccinated and unvaccinated
According to Johan Thunberg, an official on standby at the Västerbotten Region, the proportion treated with covid-19 at the county's hospital is both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
- Västerbotten does not differ when it comes to the rest of the country when it comes to the profiles of patients.
We have both older and younger patients, we have both vaccinated and unvaccinated, he says.
Johan Thunberg is convinced that the proportion of hospitalized people will increase in the coming weeks.
- As the infection increases, the number of patients will increase, I do not think we will see the same increase as we have seen before because everything suggests that this omikron variant is milder and we are quite well vaccinated, he says.
"Not as violent"
But he does not think that the influx of patients on IVA will be as high as it was before during the pandemic.
- After all, it seems that the omicron infection together with the fact that we are vaccinated means that the burden on intensive care on the patient side will not be as violent this time as it has been before.