The new corona infections have exceeded the critical value in Munich - what does that mean for the city? The chief physician Wendtner classifies the development.
- Munich has exceeded the alarm threshold for new infections with Sars-CoV-2 .
- What consequences does this have for life in the Bavarian capital ?
- The Munich chief doctor Clemens Wendtner explains the way out of the corona crisis .
Munich - Returnees on vacation, masks * tiredness, parties: the number of new corona infections * has been at a high level for weeks - 1571 new cases were reported nationwide on Friday . Politicians are concerned that the situation will worsen in the cold season. Now Munich * has broken the alarm threshold set by the Bavarian state government of more than 35 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants. What does that really mean? The tz spoke about it with the chief physician of the infectious diseases of the Munich Clinic Schwabing, Prof. Clemens Wendtner. Wendtner treated the first corona patients nationwide in January.
What are the consequences for Munich of breaking the corona border?
Prof. Clemens Wendtner, Head Physician of Infectious Diseases at the Munich Clinic Schwabing : The AHA rules - distance, hygiene, everyday masks - will now be demanded in Munich all the more and corresponding sanctions will have to be imposed in the event of violations. With regard to the mask requirement in public space, the following applies: In my opinion, the well-being of all Munich citizens takes precedence over the individual freedom of the individual. It remains to be seen to what extent further restrictions on public life will be introduced in the next few days and weeks. I do not expect a complete lockdown like in March of this year, but I can imagine stricter contact restrictions , bans on larger gatherings, etc. with increasing numbers of infections . For the time being, I do not see any closure of critical areas such as schools , here in Munich you will again have to critically think through and discuss the mask requirement in class as a lesser evil compared to school closings .
Dear Munich residents, unfortunately the number of infections is increasing again in #Muenchen, please remember the basic rules ..
distance, hygiene, everyday masks - THANK YOU! 👉💪 # WirfürEuch #WirnichtIch #Corona crisis https://t.co/6TusCTsx18 pic.twitter.com/JDqB0lojnY
Corona in Munich: Clinic is prepared for the second wave
And what do the increasing numbers of infections mean for the Munich Clinic Schwabing?
Wendtner : From a clinical point of view, we are as well prepared as possible for a second wave in the urban area. We gained a lot of experience in the first wave - we had treated almost 1000 Covid cases * and 2500 suspected cases here . So we are sure that we would get a second wave under control. Beds and reserve capacities for intensive care beds are available. Our crisis teams also met regularly throughout the summer. There is also a traffic light system so that we know how many beds there are in the city, in the district, in the state and in the federal government.
Do you also experience in your personal environment that people have had enough of contact restrictions and wearing masks *?
Wendtner : If a topic for months dominated so it is only human that fatigue is and masks and hygiene rules are interpreted more permeable. But these rules are our guarantee that we can weaken the second wave. Therefore, every individual should overcome their weaker self and stick to the AHA rules.
Clemens Wendtner, the chief physician at the Schwabing Clinic
© - / Munich Clinic / dpa
Rising corona numbers: Munich chief physician: "The bottom line is a real increase to be recorded"
Isn't the increasing number of infections just an expression of the fact that more is being tested?
Wendtner : That alone is not enough to explain. The bottom line is a real increase. What is misleading is the fact that we hardly see any serious cases in the clinics at the moment. This is due to the fact that currently patients under 40 years of age are primarily affected. These younger patients apparently have a certain reserve capacity so that they do not all have to be treated equally in hospital. But we observe here in Schwabing that more and more older patients have become infected with their adult children. With a certain delay , this will become more visible again in the clinics.
The virologist Hendrik Streeck says that because of the hygiene rules, infections with lower infectious doses occur and that the disease is more often milder. Can you confirm that?
Wendtner : From my point of view, the correlation “less virus through mask means less disease course” has not been scientifically proven. Prof. Drosten and I have examined it very carefully: The virus load with Covid-19 is enormous. On the other hand, there are certainly patients who had a severe course despite a lower viral load.
The number of corona fatalities remains comparatively very low with 9288 deaths nationwide. Is the virus any less bad than we thought back in March?
Wendtner : There is nothing to suggest that a significant genetic change occurred that weakened the virus. The death rate is falling because we have improved clinical care and can avoid bottlenecks in bed capacity, as happened in Bergamo at the time. We also know about new therapies like remdesivir . The drug is not the panacea for all patients, but we can do something good for about half of the patients. We have learned that severe processes can be alleviated by preventing inflammatory reactions early on with cortisone therapies.
Corona test in Munich: Currently, it is mainly under 40-year-olds who are infected.
© Marcus sleep
Is there enough remdesivir available if there is a major second wave?
Wendtner : The Federal Ministry of Health is currently running weekly inquiries about the doses available in Germany. 18 authorized pharmacies in Germany, including our pharmacy in Schwabing, store Remdesivir, and there are additional capacities in Bundeswehr depots . The doses are foreseeable for the next few months. At the moment, however, we have to fall back on goods within the framework of the so-called civil protection exception regulation, which is not an official commodity, as the pharmaceutical company that distributes it cannot deliver the finished drug despite approval. It would be important for Remdesivir to be available nationwide in Germany as an officially approved finished drug from October.
Will we be able to lead normal lives again when our population is vaccinated?
Wendtner : That is the hope! But it may be that, as with influenza, we have to be vaccinated against Covid-19 every year. There are currently indications that the first patients are infected again because the immunity of some patients declines over the course of months. We have to have staying power at Corona, but it's important to keep an eye on the home stretch. The mass protests against the vaccination are difficult to understand for me as a doctor, we must in hospitals absorb the collateral damage - and finally also ill opposing vaccination treat. * tz.de belongs to the Ippen-Digital editorial network.
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