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Security of supply: "The question is no longer whether, but when we wave the white flag"

2022-01-21T09:14:03.130Z


Security of supply: "The question is no longer whether, but when we wave the white flag" Created: 2022-01-21Updated: 2022-01-21, 10:05 am By: Sebastian Tauchnitz The intensive care units do not seem to be as badly affected by the omicron wave as by the delta variant. But there is growing concern that more and more doctors and nurses are becoming infected themselves. © Jean-Francois Badias/AP/dp


Security of supply: "The question is no longer whether, but when we wave the white flag"

Created: 2022-01-21Updated: 2022-01-21, 10:05 am

By: Sebastian Tauchnitz

The intensive care units do not seem to be as badly affected by the omicron wave as by the delta variant.

But there is growing concern that more and more doctors and nurses are becoming infected themselves.

© Jean-Francois Badias/AP/dpa

The omicron wave rages across the land.

And brings with it infection numbers that even dwarf the record values ​​​​of the previous delta wave.

Is the district's critical infrastructure prepared for this?

District

– What will happen to the hospitals, the police, the fire brigades, the power supply or the bus service if so many people become infected at the same time?

We asked around:

The hospitals

Those responsible at the Weilheim-Schongau GmbH hospital are monitoring the current developments in the corona pandemic very closely, said deputy managing director Claus Rauschmeier in an interview with the local newspaper: “The Covid situation in the intensive care units is currently relaxed, but the task force is coming anyway together every week to coordinate the further procedure. ”Where possible, work is done in different teams that have no contact with each other.

"But that's rarely feasible - we don't have that much staff."

According to Rauschmeier, two stressful factors came together: “There is the introduction of compulsory vaccination for medical staff, which of course means that we lose employees. And the hospitals with weaker staff have to deal with the omicron wave at the same time.” His hope: Since the omicron variant usually has a milder course, “those in whom complications occur are more likely to be on the isolation and less often on the Land intensive care unit. And we are better staffed on the normal wards.”

It is immensely important that people continue to adhere to the hygiene rules, because “our employees also have a private life.

And if the mask requirement and distance rules are observed there, the risk of them getting infected decreases.

The situation at the Penzberg hospital is similar: "Of course we are preparing for all eventualities regarding the omicron wave.

However, we don't have the staff to form two independent teams," says the press spokesman for the Starnberg Clinic, Stefan Berger.

However, the schedules have been designed in such a way that another employee can step in at any time in the event of a breakdown.

In addition, the courses in omicron are mostly mild or sometimes even asymptomatic.

"An employee can test himself free after seven days if he is symptom-free for 48 hours by means of a negative PCR test." The downtimes would be shorter as a result.

Emergency care is guaranteed in any case.

"But we have reduced bed occupancy by reducing operations," Berger admits to the local newspaper.

The bus service

As branch manager of the RVO, Ralf Kreutzer is responsible for bus transport in the district. And he sounds resigned when he talks to the local newspaper: "What should I do? The question is not whether the worst case will happen, but when. ”On Wednesday evening at 8 p.m. he could not say whether all buses would be able to drive on Thursday morning. "I reckon every day that we have to wave the white flag," said Kreutzer. Many drivers are infected, even more in quarantine. "If you have school-age children, you have to expect that you will be absent every day," says Kreutzer. He calls for a noticeable relaxation of the quarantine regulations: "It can't be that healthy drivers have to sit around at home without symptoms."

He and his colleagues would "fight to the last drop, as they have for 100 years," to comply with the timetable.

"But it can happen in the next few days that instead of two school buses, suddenly only one comes and the children have to wait half an hour until it gets back." Or that, as in the neighboring districts, entire lines have to be stopped.

The police

Who catches the criminals when the police officers are all sick or in quarantine?

A question that not only the big boys ask themselves more often these days.

But it will not come to that, according to a statement from the police headquarters in Upper Bavaria South.

You see yourself armed.

"The meanwhile very high vaccination and convalescent rate has a supporting effect," said press spokesman Alexander Huber.

An attempt is made to reduce contacts wherever possible: “In addition to the complete suspension of training courses and meetings, absolutely necessary coordination and meetings are mainly carried out as video or telephone conferences.

Wherever possible, home office is used to the maximum extent.”

The daily service takes place in an adapted form, starting with group separations through to changed shift models "in order to prevent a mixing of employees as far as possible and to create personnel redundancies".

A supra-regional operations center coordinates – independent of responsibilities – mutual support in order to be able to react to staff shortages.

The electricity suppliers

Will the lights go out at some point if the number of infections continues to rise?

At the Lechwerke, the debate about whether to “barrack” a core of indispensable employees directly at the site has long since ceased to be a taboo subject.

"As part of the preparation for all conceivable crisis scenarios, we also considered the possibility of temporarily accommodating employees directly at the site," says press spokesman Ingo Butters.

As a critical infrastructure facility, “we have set up a crisis management team since the beginning of the pandemic.

He continuously follows the development of the virus spread and the recommendations of the authorities, carries out risk assessments and orders preventive measures".

In addition to the normal hygiene and protective measures - home office, mask requirement, vaccination offers for employees - special precautions also apply to employees in critical areas, for example in the network control centers and control rooms, Butters continues.

Certain layer systems ensure that the individual layers do not come into contact with one another.

In addition, the control centers for the power grid and hydropower are operated from two separate locations.

The situation at Bayernwerk is similar: "Right from the beginning of the pandemic, we at Bayernwerk developed and implemented protection concepts in the form of a defined crisis operation and prepared ourselves very well for this," says press spokesman Maximilian Zängl.

This crisis operation has always been maintained since the beginning of the pandemic, which is why there were “no restrictions whatsoever in network operation”.

Through regular vaccination campaigns, the “internal vaccination rate is 90 percent”, and if the worst comes to the worst, “a completely isolated quarantine operation for our network control centers” has also been prepared.

The municipal utilities

Peter Müller, board member and managing director of Stadtwerke Weilheim, is relaxed about the Omikron wave: "It still applies (as with the previous waves): Don't panic, but act prudently." The Stadtwerke would take action based on the specifications of the Bavarian Energy and Water Industry Association.

“We are also trying to further increase the vaccination rate.

At the moment it is almost 80 percent in the company,” Müller continues.

The unvaccinated would have to undergo a daily corona test, everyone else could be tested daily.

"The industrial employees usually work individually or in small groups outdoors on site in the city area, we make sure that the work preparation as well as the break times are equalized," the head of the municipal utility continues.

There is also an emergency plan that has been drawn up with corresponding regulations for deputizing in the event of failure: “No one is irreplaceable”.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-01-21

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