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Covid ward in Leipzig: In Saxony it is increasingly crowded in the intensive care units
Photo: Waltraud Grubitzsch / dpa
In some regions and cities, such as Berlin or Saxony, Covid patients now make up almost a quarter of all intensive care patients.
In other large cities and in the south-east of Germany it is more than 16 percent, according to what is known as the Divi Register.
"That's a lot for a single illness," said Cologne medical specialist Christian Karagiannidis to SPIEGEL.
"But we seem to be coming into a 'steady state' in which the load is constantly high, but no longer increases."
For the coming weeks it can be assumed that the number of Covid patients who come to the intensive care unit every day will remain roughly the same.
"We can currently manage that well," says Karagiannidis, who is also President of the German Society for Internal Intensive Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine.
"But it depends on how long." Because the permanent strain on the staff is high.
"If the physical and psychological stress continues for weeks, the medical staff will eventually burn out, and after the second wave we have even fewer employees in the intensive care units."
In addition to the Covid patients, there would be patients without Covid-19, who would also have to be treated in the intensive care unit.
"Especially now in the cold season," says Karagiannidis.
"Although we suspect that the Lockdown Light will also reduce other common colds and that people are generally becoming more cautious."
In order to make the best possible use of the capacities in Germany, Karagiannidis suggests that Covid patients be distributed to free intensive care beds throughout Germany.
"We need a nationwide coordination and transport concept so that we can make optimal use of our capacities."
How is the situation in all of Germany?
The Divi Intensive Care Register shows where in Germany how many intensive care beds are currently occupied - and how many of them are with Covid patients.
Around 1300 clinics regularly report their occupancy to the Divi.
If all beds are occupied, the register for the hospital shows red.
If the capacity is almost reached, yellow.
Where there are enough beds, it shows green.
The Divi overview shows that on Tuesday a total of 5468 of the 22,150 intensive care beds in Germany were still free - 445 fewer than the day before.
There are currently almost 4,000 Covid 19 patients in hospitals across Germany, around 60 percent of them require invasive ventilation.
The intensive care units in German clinics are not yet fully utilized.
However, Covid patients often stay in the intensive care unit for several weeks.
That means: These beds will not be free again anytime soon.
At the same time, new Covid patients are added every day.
In the event of bottlenecks, hospitals are required to have emergency capacities ready, which they can free up within seven days.
This adds another 12,000 intensive care beds nationwide.
However, that would require other treatments to be suspended or postponed - which is not always without risk.
For weeks now, intensive care physicians have been urging the population to comply with the protective measures to contain the coronavirus.
"We are in an absolutely exceptional situation that we have never experienced in the history of intensive care medicine," said Gernot Marx from the German Society for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine on Monday.
Every group that is not currently meeting may help a few more people survive.
From Marx's point of view, the agreed lockdown measures should have been even stricter.
Because the corona pandemic is currently taking him and his colleagues to the limit.
The fact that even well-developed health systems can reach their limits is shown in Switzerland, where the number of infections has recently increased dramatically: around 500 of the 876 certified intensive care beds there are occupied by Covid patients.
The Swiss Society for Intensive Care Medicine then sounded the alarm.
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kry / dpa
