Coronavirus strains health stations, home care

The current and projected development of the COVID-19 pandemic is burdening the services of Helsinki’s health stations and home care, among others, said the City of Helsinki in a press release on Friday.

Access to urgent and necessary services and care, however, is guaranteed to people.

The city authority urged the people to wait for the COVID-19 situation to calm down before contacting health station, if the matter is not urgent.

The authorities are working to accommodate appointments that have already been booked, but due to staff absences, these may also need to be rescheduled or cancelled.

Whether it is a case of COVID-19 or a cold, people diagnosed with diseases that cause upper respiratory symptoms should stay at home during their illness.

COVID-19 testing is severely congested, so people are requested to not get tested if they have already received two doses of the vaccine or have had COVID-19 in the past.

If the test in a home test is positive, there is no need to verify the result in a laboratory and people are urged to stay at home during the illness.

Meanwhile, the worsening of the COVID-19 pandemic and, at the same time, the reduced availability of staff are temporarily complicating the activities of home care.

In addition to delay to visits the clients, some visits may need to be shortened or postponed.