The Ebersberg District Clinic reports a full intensive care unit and a sudden increase in the number of Covid 19 patients.
In the interview, the Medical Director Dr.
Peter Kreissl on the causes and consequences.
Ebersberg - The cell phone in Dr. Peter Kreissl rings the doorbell in the middle of an interview with EZ. The condition of a patient in the corona ward has worsened. But none of the 18 intensive care beds in Ebersberg are free. The patient must be transferred to another hospital. Kreissl, medical director of the district clinic, gives his colleague a possible option on the phone. There are not many. In the entire hospital network with Erding and Freising, only one free bed is reported. Hopefully Kreissl's team will find a quick solution. “That is the situation,” says the chief doctor. “This is live.” An interview about solidarity in the pandemic.
- Dr. Kreissl, exactly one year ago we had 31 infected people across the district, there was no mention of hospital occupancy. Now there are ten times as many and you are currently treating seven patients, four of them in intensive care. What's going on there?
People see that thanks to the vaccination, things are moving forward.
And many of those who did not participate saw it too.
The people went on vacation carefree.
This is reflected in the incidence.
The hospital numbers result mainly from the elderly, 50 plus.
All of our current patients are not vaccinated.
Vaccination is the most important thing for these high-risk patients.
- So relaxation is the order of the day among the younger ones?
Long Covid and Post Covid can be very stressful for young people.
We see heart problems, lung problems, memory problems.
That can change everyday life for a long time.
This residual risk always exists.
In addition, most of the infections take place in private.
Contacts are closer and more carefree.
How are you going to forbid the grandchildren to hug grandma?
Contagion in unvaccinated families: "As a corona ventilator you can quickly lie down for seven weeks"
- Do you see the consequences on your ward?
We experience the concrete situation that an elderly couple arrived here seriously ill.
The infection came through the family, everyone involved was not vaccinated.
The two are still here and are being ventilated - the outcome is uncertain.
In the past, such scenarios have also resulted in deaths, one was a man in his mid-50s. As a corona ventilator, you can easily lie down for seven weeks.
In the intensive care unit, the regret also comes too late for not having been vaccinated.
- What is the current rapid increase in the number of cases doing to your clinic?
As a first security measure, we reopened part of the isolation ward.
We don't want to be taken by surprise if there are more.
The eye of the needle is naturally the intensive care unit.
We can still shoulder that, but if necessary we have to postpone more serious operations that are avoidable.
In more cases, there is a risk of "completely different arming"
- We have just seen live that there was no free intensive care bed for a Covid patient.
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During the interview: Peter Kreissl (right), Medical Director of the Ebersberg District Clinic, on Wednesday in his office in the clinic with EZ editor Josef Ametsbichler.
© Stefan Rossmann
When we are full we have to pick up the phone and try to relocate the patient.
At the moment this is still part of our day-to-day business.
If the Covid cases get even more, a completely different arming must come, which we all do not want.
But maybe we are also lucky and we will experience a relaxation again after this boost from the returning travelers.
- Do we have to be afraid of winter?
I would wish: no.
The government will not be able to afford another lockdown.
So the rules for the unvaccinated will become stricter.
Everyone had the offer and must now live with the consequences.
Maybe this will get us off a little more lightly.
In principle, we are more relaxed than last year.
It also plays a role in the fact that our vaccinated employees have more security for themselves and in dealing with others.
You can test yourself after a corona contact and continue working.
Some of the clinic staff are reluctant to vaccinate: "Can't understand it"
- Around two thirds of your employees are vaccinated. The rate is therefore hardly higher than for the population of the district as a whole. Why?
That surprises me.
Apparently we're only human too.
Critical voices about vaccination among nurses and doctors are nothing new, despite seeing what is happening here.
I can't understand it, just speculate that there are fears involved.
But anyone who is immunologically strong can still infect another person - and in extreme cases bring them into the situation that they can die from it.
So vaccination is a collective choice.
We have a pandemic that requires us to stick together.
- So is it necessary for hospital staff to be vaccinated?
There would be an outcry if we did it like in France or other countries ...
- You're a doctor, not a politician.
I could only support that medically.
We have a responsibility to the people we work on here.
Thanks to our massive protective measures, the risk of infection should generally be low.
Freedom factor: "My life has clearly returned to normal"
- Many refer to personal freedom in vaccination decisions.
I can understand that.
But I also observe: since I was vaccinated and have only been with those who have been vaccinated, my life has clearly returned to normal.
It's gotten less complicated.
The worry of infecting each other is gone.
Of course, people who have been vaccinated can become infected and transmit the virus, but they do not develop any severe symptoms.
Nobody has landed in intensive care with us yet.
- What is your experience with vaccination side effects?
Occasionally, patients come to the emergency room.
With headache or muscle pain, fever, nausea, malaise.
These are usually fleeting symptoms, all of which are manageable.
We also had very few cases of myocarditis.
They too were reversible.
Visiting restrictions: "Don't want to depress, but minimize risk"
- Strict visit restrictions apply again to the district clinic.
We don't want to depress our patients, we want to minimize the risk.
Above all, thanks to the 3G regulation, we have very good protection and to some extent the security that nothing will be brought in.
We can't look into the room: there is emotionality involved, and people come closer to each other.
We can understand that, but we have to keep the risk of contamination as low as possible.
Hence the three hours of visiting time a day.
Of course, we make exceptions for the seriously ill, the dying and for births.
So in the happiest and saddest moments, people can always come.
Josef Ametsbichler asked the questions
