02.05.2022

Cur­rent Coro­n­avirus Infor­ma­tion in Soite’s Area on the 2nd of May 2022

The cur­rent sit­u­a­tion of infection 

The inci­dence of coro­n­avirus con­tin­ues to slow­ly decrease in Soite’s area, but the coro­n­avirus dis­ease is still preva­lent in the area. The need for hos­pi­tal care is still on a high lev­el as coro­n­avirus infec­tions have been con­firmed on two wards at the cen­tral hospital.

Dur­ing last week (week 17), a total of 419 new coro­n­avirus infec­tions were con­firmed in Soite’s tests. Last week, 1,046 coro­n­avirus tests were tak­en. The share of pos­i­tive tests was 40 %. This does not include infec­tions con­firmed through home tests, so the actu­al num­ber is even higher. 

Thir­ty-four COVID-19 pos­i­tive patients are cur­rent­ly being treat­ed at Cen­tral Ostro­both­nia cen­tral hos­pi­tal. Of these patients, twen­ty-two are in hos­pi­tal care for rea­sons oth­er than a coro­n­avirus infec­tion. One COVID-19 pos­i­tive patient is cur­rent­ly being treat­ed in inten­sive care. 

The need for hos­pi­tal care is great, sev­er­al coro­n­avirus infec­tions have been con­firmed at the cen­tral hospital’s ward 15 and at the ward of gen­er­al med­i­cine. On the wards, mea­sures to stop the epi­dem­ic have been imple­ment­ed and those who have been infect­ed are treat­ed in sep­a­rate rooms. 

The key fig­ures in the sit­u­a­tion­al pic­ture have been updat­ed: 

• Infections during last week: 419 (a week ago 552) 
• In hospital care: 34 coronavirus patients 
• Number of infections in the last 14 days 971 (a week ago 1,187) 
• The incidence of infections during the last 14 days/100 000 citizens: 1,255 (a week ago 1,534) 
• Since the beginning of the pandemic, a total of 23 coronavirus-related deaths have occurred in Soite’s area 

Instruc­tions

The risk of infec­tion in the Soite area is high, and we would like to once more remind every­one of the impor­tance of the coro­n­avirus safe­ty pro­ce­dures. In order to min­i­mize the risk of infec­tion, it is still impor­tant to fol­low the coro­n­avirus hygiene rec­om­men­da­tions i.e. wash your hands, use a pro­tec­tive mask and main­tain a safe­ty dis­tance. You can go to work or school only if you are com­plete­ly healthy. 

The face mask rec­om­men­da­tions issued by the Finnish Insti­tute for Health and Wel­fare is observed in the Soite area. It is rec­om­mend­ed that face masks should be used in pub­lic indoors spaces and pub­lic vehi­cles, if: 

• you seek care or coronavirus testing due to a suspected coronavirus infection 
• if you have symptoms of a respiratory infection but cannot avoid going outside your home 
• you know that you have been exposed to the coronavirus, for example if an infection has been confirmed in your family, but you cannot avoid close contacts outside the home 
• if you visit social and health care service units. 
• if you belong to a risk group and are in a space where you cannot avoid close contacts. 

An exten­sive face mask rec­om­men­da­tion is still in effect at Soite’s units, i.e. social and health care per­son­nel will use face masks at their workplaces. 

It is rec­om­mend­ed that employ­ers uti­lize the hybrid mod­el for remote work at work­places so that employ­ees take turns to work from home part of the time, as far as this is pos­si­ble, so that not every­one is at the work place simultaneously. 

Home test­ing is rec­om­mend­ed as the pri­ma­ry method for con­firm­ing a coro­n­avirus infec­tion. Home tests are rec­om­mend­ed for any­one who has symp­toms of a res­pi­ra­to­ry infec­tion, such as a fever, a run­ny nose or a cough. We rec­om­mend repeat­ing the home test again after a few days if the symp­toms of res­pi­ra­to­ry infec­tion persist. 

If the coro­n­avirus test is pos­i­tive, you should stay in home iso­la­tion. The dura­tion of iso­la­tion at home for a per­son who has become ill is 5 days start­ing from the day their symp­toms began or the day they were test­ed, regard­less of vac­ci­na­tion pro­tec­tion. The day the symp­toms began or the test day is count­ed as day 0. Dur­ing the dura­tion of the home iso­la­tion, you have to avoid all con­tacts out­side your home. 

If you con­tact your occu­pa­tion­al health ser­vices or health cen­tral, they can write a sick leave cer­tifi­cate for 5 days based on a home test. The Act is in effect from 28th of Feb­ru­ary to 30th of June 2022. Read more in the mes­sage on the Finnish Government’s web­site (in Finnish). 

If you have received a pos­i­tive result from a home test and are gen­er­al­ly healthy, have mild res­pi­ra­to­ry symp­toms and over­all are feel­ing well, you do not gen­er­al­ly need to con­tact the health­care ser­vices or seek out coro­n­avirus test­ing with­in the health­care services. 

If you need a med­ical cer­tifi­cate A for sick­ness allowance on account of an infec­tious dis­ease for your employ­er, a pos­i­tive home test result has to be con­firmed with­in the health care ser­vices. Due to the Health Insur­ance Act being changed, you have to con­tact your own occu­pa­tion­al health ser­vices or health cen­tral for a med­ical cer­tifi­cate A. Soite’s Infec­tion Con­trol Unit no longer issues med­ical cer­tifi­cates A. 

Cur­rent instruc­tions are found on Soite’s coro­n­avirus website: 

• • If you suspect an infection, follow these instructions 
• • Treating a Coronavirus Infection at Home 
• • Instructions for people who have COVID-19 

Vac­ci­na­tions 

It is impor­tant to take the coro­n­avirus vac­cine, as the vac­cine pro­tects you from seri­ous forms of coro­n­avirus dis­ease in par­tic­u­lar.  Please take the coro­n­avirus vac­cine as soon as pos­si­ble if you have not yet done so, or if you have not yet tak­en the boost­er vac­cine doses. 

Coro­n­avirus vac­ci­na­tions are giv­en as follows: 

• Coronavirus vaccinations are now progressing with regards to all persons over the age of 5 who live in Soite’s area. The second dose can be given when at least six weeks have passed since the first vaccination.
• A third vaccine dose is given to everyone over the age of 60 and to persons who belong to medical risk groups and who are at least 18 years or older if at least 3 months have passed since they received the second dose. 
• A third vaccine dose is given to everyone aged 18 to 59 years if at least 4 months have passed since they received the second dose. 
• A third vaccine dose is given to 12—17-year-olds who belong to a risk group if at least 6 months have passed since the second dose. A third dose can also be given to other 12–17-year-olds if it is needed for other than medical reasons, for example before traveling somewhere. 
• A third dose is also given to persons aged 12 and older who have a severe immunodeficiency, if at least 2 months have passed since the second vaccination.
• A fourth dose is given to persons aged 12 and older who have a severe immunodeficiency, if at least 3 months have passed since the third vaccination. 
• A fourth dose is given to persons aged 80 and older as well as to elderly residents at nursing homes, if at least 3 months have passed since the third vaccination.
• Coronavirus vaccinations for children aged 5 to 11 will be arranged by appointment at Soite’s vaccination centrals. You can book an appointment via Soite’s online Omahoito service: https://soite.terveytesi.fi/citizenportal/#/login. When 5-11 year old children are vaccinated, consent is needed by both parents. 

Nat­u­ral­ly, first dos­es of the vac­cine are also still being dis­trib­uted and we encour­age you to seek out coro­n­avirus vac­ci­na­tion if you are com­plete­ly unvac­ci­nat­ed. The coro­n­avirus is not going away and it will be very dif­fi­cult to avoid the dis­ease in the future. It is sig­nif­i­cant­ly safer to encounter the coro­n­avirus if you are vac­ci­nat­ed. 

Soite’s coro­na vac­ci­na­tion indi­ca­tor has been updat­ed! In total, 90.6% of the cit­i­zens in the Soite area over the age of 18 have now received their first vac­cine dose. 88.4 per­cent of per­sons over the age of 18 in the area have received their sec­ond vac­ci­na­tion dose. As many as 66.3 per­cent of per­sons over the age of 18 in the area have received their third vac­ci­na­tion dose. 

Vac­ci­na­tions are giv­en main­ly dur­ing walk-in vac­ci­na­tion days with­out appoint­ment book­ing, which means you can come to a coro­n­avirus vac­ci­na­tion when it suits you best. 

This week, vac­ci­na­tion days with­out appoint­ment book­ing are organized: 

• May 2nd 9 am – 7.30 pm the vaccination central in Kokkola (Kaarlelankatu 7). Vaccine: Pfizer and Moderna
• May 3rd 9.30 am – 2.30 pm Ullava health central (Ullavantie 701). Vaccine: Pfizer and Moderna
• May 3rd 1 pm to 3 pm Kruunupyy health station (Säbråntie 1). Vaccine: Pfizer
• May 4th 9 am – 7.30 pm the vaccination central in Kokkola (Kaarlelankatu 7). Vaccine: Pfizer and Moderna
• May 4th kl. 10.15 am – 4.20 pm the vaccination central in Perhonjokilaakso (Kirkkotanhua 1, Vetil). Vaccine: Pfizer
• May 5th 8.30 am – 3.30 pm Kannus seurakuntakeskus (the parish centre) (Valtakatu 20). Vaccine: Pfizer and Moderna
• May 5th 9 am – 3.30 pm the vaccination central in Kokkola (Kaarlelankatu 7). Vaccine: Pfizer and Moderna
• May 5th 12 noon – 2.45 pm Perho health central (Vanhainkodintie 20) Vaccine: Pfizer
• May 6th 8.30 am – 3 pm Toholampi Seurakuntakoti (the parish house) (Lampintie 7). Vaccine: Pfizer and Moderna

Addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion and the timetable for the walk-in days can be found on Soite’s coro­n­avirus web­site: https://korona.soite.fi/en/the-coronavirus-vaccines/ 

An appoint­ment for a coro­n­avirus vac­ci­na­tion may still be booked online on https://soite.terveytesi.fi/ or by phone on the num­ber 06 828 7488. Phone hours Mon­day to Thurs­day from 9 am to 3 pm. You can also book an appoint­ment via your health centre. 

Addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion and the timetable for the walk-in days can be found on Soite’s coro­n­avirus web­site: https://korona.soite.fi/en/the-coronavirus-vaccines/ 

An appoint­ment for a coro­n­avirus vac­ci­na­tion may still be booked online on https://soite.terveytesi.fi/ or by phone on the num­ber 06 828 7488. Phone hours Mon­day to Thurs­day from 9 am to 3 pm. You can also book an appoint­ment via your health centre.