Each day, the RIVM releases the latest figures relating to coronavirus in the Netherlands. These include the number of people who have tested positive, who have been hospitalised, and who have died as a result of coronavirus, as well as the number of ICU beds that are currently occupied by coronavirus patients. But one number has long been missing from this data.
That number is pretty crucial: it’s the number of people who have recovered from coronavirus in the Netherlands. Now, obviously it can’t include people who had mild symptoms (and who therefore were never tested). Nonetheless, the long awaited figure, which was released by the organisation NICE (National Intensive Care Evaluation), is quite impressive.
More than two-thirds of hospital patients have recovered enough to go home
7000 patients who have been admitted to hospital have recovered enough to be sent home, the NICE numbers show. That’s a significant proportion of those admitted to hospital, who number 12,000. On average, those released were 63.5 years old and spent about a week in hospital. There was a noticeable difference between those who were admitted to the ICU and those who were not- the former group spent longer in hospital and were more likely to die.
26% of people admitted to an ICU have passed away
Of those admitted to ICUs, only 20% have recovered enough to go home, De Volkskrant reports. 26% of the people who are admitted to an intensive care ward have died. Of those who were admitted to hospital but not to an ICU, 70% have been able to return home after recovering from the virus. 16% of those admitted to a general ward as a result of coronavirus have passed away.
ICU patients generally younger than those in other wards
Generally speaking, those who were admitted to an ICU were actually younger than those who were not. This because people over 80 years of age are usually not given an artificial breathing machine because the treatment itself is too intense for most people of that age. All of this is done in consultation with a doctor, of course.
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