University Hospital Cologne: 750 employees in quarantine after carnival - with an impact on surgeries

Created: 03/08/2022Updated: 03/08/2022 15:44

By: Johanna Werning

Around 700 employees at the Cologne University Hospital are currently unable to work due to the corona virus (archive image) © Marius Becker/dpa

The incidence in Cologne is increasing.

This is now also having an effect on the university hospital.

750 employees are now in quarantine.

Operations must be postponed.

Cologne – The incidence in Cologne is again on the rise.

According to the RKI, the Cologne incidence value is currently 2,504.1 (as of Tuesday, March 8).

This makes the Cologne incidence the sad leader in NRW.

Just a week ago, the corona incidence was below 1000. This is an enormous increase and is now also affecting the Cologne University Hospital.

Around 750 employees are currently in quarantine and are therefore unable to work.

That is why several operations have to be postponed, reports 24RHEIN.

Cologne University Hospital: 750 employees in quarantine – “massive increase continued”

The university clinic announced on Monday that there were many corona cases and suspected cases among the staff.

"Currently, 689 employees of the university hospital are infected with the corona virus or are in quarantine," medical director Edgar Schömig told the

on Monday .

Now the situation has gotten worse again.

“Unfortunately, the massive increase in infections has continued,” said Schömig on Tuesday.

Currently 748 employees are infected with the corona virus or are in quarantine.

That is another 59 employees more than the day before.

University Hospital Cologne: Around 750 employees in corona quarantine - OPs are postponed

"In this critical situation, we would like to thank our employees for their tireless commitment to mastering this challenge," emphasized Schömig and explained the effects: "We must continue to counter this situation by postponing planned treatments, which due to the dynamic development are updated daily and be determined area-specifically. ”The University Hospital Cologne asks the patients for their understanding if they are affected by postponements.

However, the high numbers represent a huge increase.

In the days and weeks before Carnival, around 350 to 450 employees were reported to be infected with the corona virus or were in quarantine every day.

Now there are twice as many.

A total of around 11,600 employees work at the university hospital.

Cologne University Hospital has to postpone operations: Cologne carnival as a trigger?

Schömig also named one reason for this on Monday – namely the Cologne Carnival.

"In the past few days, the past carnival season has also seen a massive increase in infections among our employees." The city of Cologne is more cautious on this point.

A connection between the high incidence figures and the carnival is possible, "but a causal explanation for the increase in incidence due to the carnival cannot be assessed with certainty," the city said on Friday (March 4).

Cologne: Incidence increases rapidly within a week after carnival

• Tuesday, March 1:

  936.0

• Wednesday March 2:

  966.1

• Thursday, March 3:

  1,086.3

• Friday, March 4:

  1,400.6

• Saturday, March 5:

  1,781.0

• Sunday, March 6:

  2,018.7

• Monday, March 7:

  2,332.7

• Tuesday, March 8:

  3504.1

• Source: Robert Koch Institute, as of March 8, 2022

And the Bonn virologist Hendrik Streeck also warns: “Of course there is the possibility that this has something to do with the carnival.

But you should always be careful: correlation does not automatically mean causality.”