Municipal utilities, police, emergency services and hospitals in Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen: Equipped for Omikron

Created: 01/05/2022, 06:30 AM

By: Andreas Steppan

Services of general interest for Bad Tölz: Stadtwerke CEO Walter Huber (white shirt) assures that electricity, water and gas will continue to flow if the omicron wave actually causes high staff losses.

The photos show him on a guided tour to the Gaißach elevated tank (from the top left, clockwise), to the wood chip system on the Hoheneck, to the photovoltaic system on the Farchet and to the Isar power plant.

© Arndt Pröhl

Will Omikron facilities in the critical infrastructure only function to a limited extent?

The relevant organizations in the district consider themselves to be well positioned.

Sometimes there are emergency plans.

Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen

- The expected spread of the Omikron variant of the coronavirus is associated with a new concern: Because this virus variant is considered extremely contagious, infection and quarantine of contact persons could cause so many workers to be absent that important facilities of the critical infrastructure could be paralyzed will.

There is no fear of such a collapse in the fire brigade, police, ambulance service and in hospitals in the district - but take precautions if possible.

General practitioners divide the district into eight supply areas

Dr. Jörg Lohse, medical coordinator of the pandemic fight in the district, thinks it is conceivable that a significant part of the medical practices will have to be temporarily closed because of Omikron. That's why he worked out an emergency plan. For this purpose, reports the Münsingen family doctor, has divided the district into eight smaller "supply areas", each with three to ten doctors. "Within these areas, the doctors have to represent each other, cancel vacation if necessary or, if necessary, receive support from retired doctors or doctors from clinics," says Lohse. In this way, patients could be sure that under no circumstances will they be left without care by a general practitioner. Lohse is pleased that all the general practitioners he wrote to are involved in the concept.

"We currently consider the care of our patients to be secure, even in the event of increased staff absences," assures Thomas Reichart, HR manager at the Wolfratshausen district clinic.

Contingency plans "to ensure optimal use of human resources in pandemic times already exist," he explains.

"In most cases it is possible to respond adequately to increased failures with a lead time of 24 to 48 hours."

In the Asklepios City Clinic in Bad Tölz, 90 percent of the staff are vaccinated

The Asklepios City Clinic in Tölz also sees itself prepared for everything with emergency (duty) plans and sufficient protective equipment, according to press spokesman Christopher Horn.

He describes the high vaccination rate among staff as a plus point: around 90 percent are fully vaccinated, most of them boosted.

At the BRK, volunteers help out if necessary

The same factor makes Andreas Schäfer, district manager of the BRK, confident.

Otherwise, stick to the same rules on hygiene and avoidance of contact that have been tried and tested since the beginning of the pandemic.

In addition to the 3G regime in the workplace, employees would be tested regularly, even if they were vaccinated.

In fact, there has already been a situation where ten employees were in quarantine at the same time.

In such cases there is a reserve at the BRK: "Then volunteer paramedics can take over the shifts of full-time paramedics."

Concepts that maintain operational capability in any case: “This is nothing new to us,” explains Martin Emig, press spokesman for the Upper Bavaria South Police Headquarters.

The tailor-made concepts for each department - Emig keeps a low profile on the details - "have worked well so far," he says.

Therefore, do not worry about the omicron wave in this regard.

Insure public utilities: water, electricity and gas will not fail

Walter Huber, managing director of Tölzer Stadtwerke, emphasizes that water, electricity or gas could fail. "No risk in the world can be rated as zero - but the people of Tölz can really rest assured." The water pumps, the electricity, the gas: all of this runs automatically, even without human intervention. In the event of malfunctions, an on-call fitter is assigned around the clock for the gas / water, electricity and district heating divisions, as well as a responsible person on duty. If one of these casts fails, it can be easily compensated for. "If there are more than two failures, things get tight," says Huber. But even then, other municipal utility employees could step in. And if the going gets tough, the municipal utilities would have special permission that a personwho is only in quarantine as a contact person, starts on duty "as long as she feels able to work".

For Stadtwerke Wolfratshausen, board member Thomas Fritz describes the water supply as the “most critical area” of security of supply. Even if a lot is automated and the water master can regulate most of the things via remote access: "If there is a burst water pipe, someone has to be there to pull out," says Fritz. Therefore, since the beginning of the pandemic, the Stadtwerke had, so to speak, assigned an employee as the “last cartridge” who practically no longer comes into contact with the rest of the workforce and is supposed to hold the position if others fail. But Fritz is also trying to prevent major gaps in staff. That is why, for example, all 34 employees are tested daily. There is also the consideration of switching back to two-shift operation. Fritz: "We have nothing else to do,than driving on sight and reassessing the situation every day. "

Don't worry about the fire brigade's readiness for action

The fire brigade also relies on protective measures that have proven themselves through all waves.

There is no emergency plan for the emergency services, as Stefan Kießkalt, spokesman for the district fire brigade association, had just recently told our newspaper (we reported): “This is more of an issue for professional fire brigades.” Such planning is difficult in the voluntary sector.

But he is not worried about the operational readiness of the armed forces.

The developments of the corona pandemic in the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district are constantly updated for reading in the Tölzer Kurier's news ticker.

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