– We still have high pressure on the department, says head of the Norwegian Association for Emergency and Hospital Medicine, Jørn Einar Rasmussen. He is currently an emergency specialist at Drammen Hospital. Last year he sounded the alarm, when an increasing flow of patients had to be treated in the emergency department. At most, 100 patients had to be treated daily, and Rasmussen was concerned about the capacity. The situation has not changed significantly since then. – It looks like we have now reached a new normal. We see far more patients than we did before the pandemic, but we have become better at handling this now, says Rasmussen. He believes that emergency departments in several places in the country are in the same situation. Far fewer people die One important thing, however, has changed since then; far fewer of the patients die. In recent months, the death toll has dropped dramatically in this country. The graph below shows the development in Norway in 2022, and up to April this year. It clearly shows that something happened after the New Year. – Both the corona wave and the flu epidemic receded quickly after the New Year, and then the total mortality also fell. It is normal for a peak in mortality at the turn of the year. This time this peak became higher and more pointed. It increased quickly and quickly went back down, says specialist director Preben Aavitsland at the Institute of Public Health. When the corona measures ceased in February last year, the virus was in practice given free rein in the population. The result was a significant excess mortality in Norway. – Almost the entire population was infected by the coronavirus in 2022, mainly in three large waves. This resulted in close to 3,500 corona deaths, the vast majority in the elderly. In addition, we had a record peak in severe flu at Christmas time, says Aavitsland. Up to and including week 18 of this year, 563 so-called covid-19-associated deaths have been registered. In the same period last year, this figure was three times as high. Subject director Preben Aavitsland at the Institute of Public Health believes that mortality in Norway will return to normal within the next two years. Photo: Per-Kåre Sandbakk / news Less serious illness awaits The danger is still not over. New virus variants threaten to cause new waves of infection, but Aavitsland does not believe that this means new rounds with high death tolls. – So to speak, the entire population has now been infected with the corona virus at least once. The vast majority of adults are also vaccinated two to four times. The population thus has broad protection against serious corona disease, believes the professional director. According to Aavitsland, the coming waves will therefore consist of people who are infected for the second and third time. – We expect them to get a less serious illness. Nevertheless, the corona will still cause a number of deaths among the oldest and frailest, just as influenza and pneumonia have done for years. We expect the total mortality to normalize in Norway within a couple of years. Fewer deaths in Europe Most other countries in Europe are experiencing a similar development. Figures from Eurostat, which collects statistics from all EU and EEA countries, show a clear decrease in mortality. In March, an excess mortality of only 0.3 per cent was recorded. In comparison, the excess mortality was close to 20 per cent as recently as December last year. In total, 1,735,000 more European lives have been lost than is normal, during the three pandemic years. Mortality is now back to normal in several countries in Europe. Photo: Eurostat
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Mortality plunges in Norway after high death tolls during the corona pandemic – news Oslo and Viken – Local news, TV and radio
