Omicron wave spills over Germany - this is what it looks like in the intensive care units
Created: 02/11/2022 15:54
By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi
The omicron variant of the corona virus will probably not overload the German health system.
© Thomas Banneyer/dpa
According to the German Hospital Society, the omicron variant of the corona virus will no longer overload German intensive care units, but it remains dangerous.
Munich – Until recently, the entire attitude to the corona pandemic was based on the value of the incidence.
In the meantime, however, another factor has overtaken the incidence as an indicator of the infection process: the utilization of hospitals and intensive care beds.
Although the incidence is still an important point when assessing the situation, the federal and state governments are now looking at hospital occupancy to make adjustments to the rules.
With the advent of the highly contagious omicron variant, concerns about the occupancy of intensive care beds in German hospitals increased.
A huge number of new infections every day could turn into a disaster for the health system.
However, the milder course of an infection with omicron defused the situation.
Apparently there is no risk of overloading, but you are not quite on the safe side yet.
Corona situation in intensive care units: DKG boss is optimistic - WHO warns and advises caution
The head of the German Hospital Society (DKG), Gerald Gass, considers it unlikely that hospitals in Germany will be overwhelmed.
"I currently no longer expect the German healthcare system to be overburdened in the coming weeks," emphasized Gass to the
picture
.
According to him, the Corona measures have shown an extremely positive influence here.
They would have "significantly contributed to the fact that the feared wave was not as high as feared".
Gass also warned against lifting these effective measures too early.
He called for sticking to the rules until the expected peak of the omicron wave in a week or two.
After that, however, politicians could “without a doubt envisage gradual relaxation for the coming weeks”.
Other experts, on the other hand, are not as optimistic as Gass, preferring to take a slightly more cautious position.
For example, the infectiologist Jana Schroeder warned of many serious illnesses among around three million older people who are still unvaccinated against the virus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also urges caution in view of the current situation.
According to WHO representative Abdi Mahamud, more than half a million people have died since Omicron appeared in November 2021.
"In the age of effective vaccines" this is "really something special" and "more than tragic".
This was followed by his colleague Maria Van Kerkhove.
"We are still in the middle of the pandemic," said the WHO expert.
Many countries have not yet passed the omicron peak, which is why the virus remains “dangerous”.
Corona situation in intensive care units: Divi provides important statistics - utilization is highest in Berlin
So what is the situation in the intensive care units in the midst of the omicron wave?
For this purpose, the "German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine" (Divi) provides data for each federal state.
According to the Divi register, the number of Covid patients in intensive care units is highest in Berlin.
Corona patients occupy 17.9 percent of the beds there.
This is followed by Bremen with 14.5 percent and Hamburg with 12.6 percent.
Things are looking better in the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Rhineland-Palatinate, Thuringia and Saarland: there the occupancy of the beds by corona patients is less than 10 percent.
In the case of corona patients in intensive care units, the ventilation rate is an important indicator of the severity of the disease.
As of February 2022, more than 76 percent of patients are receiving respiratory support in the form of non-invasive or invasive ventilation.
More than 67 percent of them are mechanically assisted in breathing - exclusively with invasive ventilation.
Corona situation in intensive care units: Certain criteria for transfer - "The risk for the unvaccinated is higher"
Of course, not all people with a corona infection end up in the intensive care unit.
The transfer to an intensive care unit is based on certain medical criteria, as the Divi
explained to
t-online .
"These are usually collected and evaluated in the team on the normal ward and checked again by the team there when they are admitted to the intensive care unit," says the association.
The Divi intensive care register also distinguishes between vaccinated and unvaccinated.
RKI boss Lothar Wieler stated that the proportion of unvaccinated people who came to a hospital with a corona infection was almost twice as high at Delta as at Omikron.
However, this is by no means a reason to underestimate the role of vaccination.
"Our data show a significantly higher risk of Covid-19 disease in unvaccinated people," Wieler emphasized.
(bb)
