Omikron gains the upper hand

Created: 01/11/2022, 6:33 PM

By: Nicole Kalenda

Community vaccination day in Planegg: Juliane Neeff had Alena Hamberger put the injection on Tuesday in the St. Elisabeth parish home.

© Michael Schönwälder

The first day of school after the Christmas holidays brought four positive corona cases to schools and day-care centers in the Munich district.

District Administrator Christoph Göbel expects a strong increase in the near future.

District of Munich

- The significantly more contagious omicron variant of the corona virus is also spreading in the Munich district. There are 1463 suspected cases so far, with 1265 the majority comes from the past 14 days. Whole genome sequencing has so far only been completed in eight cases, in each of which the suspicion of omicron was confirmed. Infections with the variant are relatively reliably detected by so-called vPCR tests. "One can assume that every suspected case is also Omikron," said Göbel in a press conference on Tuesday. The mutant displaces Delta and now accounts for 60 percent of all new infections. Omikron will lead to a "high upswing in infection cases". Comparatively few cases affect return travelers, Göbel spoke of around 100 known Covid-19 diseases at the beginning of the week.

Quarantine rules relaxed with the start of school

Göbel described the infection process in schools and day-care centers as "still normal".

But he also said about the return from the Christmas holidays: "I know of a lot of cases of schoolchildren in my area who simply stayed at home." Self-test before the start of the class was positive.

Göbel was relieved that the quarantine rules for Omikron cases in schools have now been relaxed. At the end of last year he feared “total chaos from face-to-face and distance teaching”. At that time, it was still the case that the entire class had to be in quarantine for 14 days if a suspected Omikron case occurred. There was a change right on time for the start of school. "We judge the question of close contact persons exactly according to the standards of the Delta variant," explained the district administrator. If all protective measures, such as wearing a mask and ventilation, are observed, the direct neighbors or siblings are sent to quarantine. The whole class only has to stay at home if there are follow-up cases and thus “two or three infected people”. The quarantine no longer lasts 14 but ten days.Free testing by means of a PCR test is possible from the seventh day onwards. The decision at the federal level to shorten the quarantine for schoolchildren to five days has not yet broken down to the Free State. Infected people still have to be in isolation for a full 14 days. There are currently 50 people in quarantine at the schools and daycare centers in the district.

The number of PCR tests is increasing

The number of rapid antigen tests remained almost constant over the turn of the year and in the first week of January.

8957 were between December 27th and January 2nd, 8711 between January 3rd and January 9th.

The number of PCR tests increased over the same period: from 5345 to 7487. Göbel spoke of an “increased number of tests”.

In order to stay functional, the district office has been relying on as much home office as possible for a long time.

Shift work is carried out in critical infrastructure facilities such as the fire brigade operations center.

The strong increase in Covid-19 diseases to be expected due to the high infectivity of Omikron will, according to Göbel, also be reflected in the bed occupancy in hospitals with a delay. It is still the case that operations that can be planned are postponed and attempts are made “in pairs” to relocate patients on the way to recovery, for example from the Großhadern Clinic to the Urological Clinic in Planegg or the Graefelfinger Wolfart Clinic. In this way, space is made for new difficult cases.

It remains to be seen whether the occupancy of normal beds will increase significantly because initial studies at Omikron suggest a lighter course.

Göbel campaigned for vaccinations again and warned: “Those who are completely unvaccinated have a high risk of a severe course.” Especially in risk groups such as the immunocompromised, obese or in the age group over 60. “I hope that we will continue to do very well make progress in vaccinating the population. "

Again problems with BayIMCO

The district administrator described it as regrettable that there were again problems with the vaccination appointment agreement via the BayIMCO registration software throughout Bavaria. This time the vaccinations for children are affected. "For reasons inexplicable to me, the appointment-making tool reports that no appointments are available." This is not the case, there are appointments for five to eleven year olds in the three vaccination centers in the district in Haar, Unterschleißheim and Oberhaching. 7056 child vaccinations have been carried out so far, 5808 of which were first vaccinations. In the vaccination centers there were 3208 vaccinations, divided into 2448 initial and 760 full protection vaccinations.

If you want to make an appointment for a Covid-19 vaccination of a five- to eleven-year-old child in the vaccination centers of the district of Munich, you currently have to do this by telephone.

Haar has its own children's hotline at 248 80 66 61, Unterschleißheim can be reached at 312 03 44 22, Oberhaching at 248 86 19 60.