Due to the high numbers of new corona infections that have persisted for weeks, the intensive care units keep filling up. The intensive care medicine association Divi is sounding the alarm.
The situation in the clinics is coming to a head: In many places, the intensive care units are already overloaded due to the growing number of Covid patients.
Doctors are increasingly preparing for patient transfers, as announced by the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (Divi). “The Corona situation is very worrying and currently not under control,” said Divi President Gernot Marx in a video link. One is very worried.
More than 3,670 Covid-19 patients are currently being cared for in intensive care units in Germany, and just under 1200 were added last week. Regionally, for example in Bavaria, Thuringia, Saxony and some metropolitan areas, the intensive care units are already overloaded.
“This overload situation already makes relocation in the respective federal states necessary and also a prioritization”. This means that operations that can be planned have to be postponed and the clinics have to create reserves.
If the infection dynamics continue in the next few days and weeks and there continues to be an unchecked increase in seriously ill Covid 19 patients, it will be necessary to prioritize interventions and reorganization in large parts of Germany. General health care is then no longer available at the very high, accustomed level. However, every emergency and every Covid-19 patient is taken care of, emphasized Marx.
The shamrock concept
In the spring of 2020, under the impression of the first corona wave, the federal and state governments developed a concept for the nationwide transfer of Covid 19 patients who need intensive medical treatment. In September last year, the so-called cloverleaf concept was then decided by the ministers of the interior and health. It is based on a three-tier system – green, yellow, red.
When the “red” level is reached, the need for relocation between the five regions – west, north, east, south, southwest – is organized by a coordinator defined in advance, in exchange with the joint reporting and situation center of the federal and state governments at the federal office for civil protection and disaster relief (BBK). A specialist group from the Robert Koch Institute is providing advice. According to the BBK, in the fourth wave there has not yet been any laying beyond the individual clovers.
Nevertheless: According to the State Medical Association, the Free State of Saxony, which has been badly hit by Corona, has to prepare for a triage. There are only a few beds available in the intensive care units in the Free State, said the President of the State Medical Association, Erik Bodendieck, the broadcaster NDR Info.
Triage means that medical professionals must decide who to help first due to scarce resources. He hopes that things will turn out differently than currently forecast. Saxony is in any case dependent on the help of other federal states.
Nursing staff are missing
According to Divi, one reason for the tense situation in the intensive care units is, among other things, the lack of staff in the hospitals. Many nurses have given notice or reduced their working hours, said Divi scientific-medical director and pulmonologist Christian Karagiannidis. Compared to last year, according to the Divi, there are now around 4,000 fewer intensive care beds available.
Marx appealed to politicians to arm themselves in the event that the corona spread continued unchecked. If the package agreed last week does not work sufficiently, additional measures against the fourth wave should be prepared for December 9, said Marx. The federal and state governments want to review the effectiveness of the measures in the Infection Protection Act passed by the Bundestag on December 9th.
The experts agree that the vaccination currently offers the most effective protection against corona and has also saved the intensive care units from overflowing for a long time. “The higher the vaccination rate, the higher the incidence can go,” without the intensive care units filling up, said Andreas Schuppert, Divi modeler. “But it must also be added that we have never seen incidences of the size we see today in the previous waves.” The so-called “vaccination bonus” has now been exhausted.
Source From: Stern
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