The incidence in Munich has skyrocketed again, Mayor Reiter calls the situation dramatic. Patients can only be admitted to the intensive care units because a disaster has been declared.
How does Munich get through the second Corona winter? Anyone looking at the city’s seven-day incidence this Monday should be concerned, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) it is 334.7. At the weekend, the value for Munich had doubled. On the question of how the city is doing in this fourth wave, Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) spoke in a conversation in the Munich press club – with clear words: “Even the worst pessimists could not have imagined these numbers.”
How serious the situation is in Munich has only really shown in the past few weeks, also because the city couldn’t keep up with counting and reporting positive corona cases. This has clearly distorted the statistics. In the meantime, the high number of cases is particularly noticeable in the clinics. The situation in Freising is so dramatic that seriously ill patients recently had to be transferred to Italy in order to be able to receive proper treatment.
The situation in Munich is also tense, as Reiter confirms in the press club. “This is a matter of life and death every day,” said the mayor. Every day the question arises: who can still be treated, how many beds are there? “These are topics that I didn’t deal with a few months ago,” said Reiter. At that time, for example, it was still about the cancellation of events – a minor thing compared to the current situation.
According to Reiter, what has already helped in Munich is the renewed declaration of a disaster in Bavaria. “Today there are 455 intensive care beds in Munich, five days ago there were 380,” said the mayor. In the event of a disaster, occupancy can be controlled, “that is, you can get other hospitals to create intensive capacities”. However: According to Reiter, 422 of the 455 intensive care beds now available in the Munich clinics are already occupied this Monday. In other words: Without the disaster, Munich would be missing more than 40 beds.
Whether you can even hold a Christmas market in this location is another question that was asked in the press club. The city’s crisis team should discuss this on Tuesday, said Reiter. In any case, all possible security measures would have to be used to contain the pandemic again.