Oktoberfest hasn’t even been over for a week – and Munich is sniffling. The number of cases of Corona and “Wiesn flu”, i.e. flu-like infections, is increasing and the waiting rooms, especially in general practitioners’ practices, are full.
The known indicators are no longer very meaningful because very few people who are sick still test themselves for Corona: According to the Robert Koch Institute, 436 Corona cases were reported in Munich for the week from September 25th to October 1st. The seven-day incidence was 29. However, the trend is increasing. In the previous week there were 251 cases. For Bavaria, the incidence on Friday was 15, and ten nationwide. This is very little compared to the previous year. The incidence nationwide on the same day was 504.
A more precise assessment of the situation can be made by examining Munich’s wastewater: a sharply increasing Sars-CoV-2 viral load can be detected there. Water samples are taken twice a week at a sewage treatment plant and evaluated in the laboratory. The most recent measurement was on September 28th. According to the Info page The monitoring network “BayVoc” – an association of, among others, the State Office for Health and Food Safety, the Ludwig Maximilians University, the Technical University and virologists at Bavarian universities – the trend has been mostly increasing since July, starting from a low level. “Like in most Bavarian municipalities that are currently involved in wastewater monitoring,” says Oliver T. Keppler, spokesman for the network. So this is neither “Munich-specific nor surprising”.
On September 28th, i.e. in the second week of the Oktoberfest, the Sars-CoV-2 individual measurement reached a value of 71.5 percent – compared to the highest value of the past twelve months on October 10th, 2022, i.e. shortly after the Oktoberfest at that time . As Keppler explains, this highest value measured in the comparison period is set to 100 percent in the display, and the other measured values are calculated as a percentage. The evaluations usually took two to four days, so the data shown was “somewhat delayed”. Keppler points out that the values can be easily compared within a location’s timeline, but not between locations. Here it is more important to compare the dynamics, i.e. the rise and fall of the viral load. Factors such as how the samples are taken, how much it rained, and how many households are at the measuring point played a role specific to each location.
At the moment, the wastewater is only being tested for coronaviruses. But they are in the process of expanding the measurements and also examining the samples for influenza viruses A and B as well as the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Corona diseases are increasing
Markus Frühwein’s voice sounds a bit nasal. In fact, the general practitioner is sick himself and not in his practice on Brienner Strasse. “Just stupid,” as he says. Because of his 25 employees, another doctor and two medical assistants are also missing due to illness. There are currently a lot of patients coming in with infections. The typical “Wiesn flu,” as the 42-year-old says. But corona diseases would also rise sharply again. “There are more and more coming at the moment.”
Unfortunately, sick leave by telephone has been no longer available since March, says the doctor. With the abolition of most Corona protection regulations, such a Corona sick note, which would relieve the workload on the practice team, is no longer possible. Either the patients actually come to the practice, or he offers a video consultation to get an idea of the symptoms. Nevertheless, it is very labor-intensive and not “effective”. Because the corona patients, especially many younger ones, are “really sick” and have a bad fever, for example.
In Frühwein’s practice for general, tropical and travel medicine, a lot of vaccinations are carried out. Now it’s especially the flu and increased corona vaccinations. “We carry out almost 50 vaccinations a day,” says the doctor.
36 Covid patients are being treated
The Munich Clinic reports that seasonal corona cases have “increased steadily but moderately” in recent weeks. 36 Covid patients are currently being treated, three of whom are in the intensive care unit. Other respiratory diseases such as influenza are also currently booming, says Christoph Dodt, head of emergencies in Bogenhausen, and strongly recommends getting a flu vaccination. He assumes that cases will continue to increase over the course of the year. But be prepared for it.
Pediatrician Christian Schröter is still relatively calm at the moment. Respiratory infections and flu-like symptoms are increasing among his young patients, but he doesn’t expect the numbers to rise sharply until next week. “In practice, everyone is still healthy,” says the 53-year-old. To ensure that it stays that way, he has not yet taken down the Plexiglas protective walls in his practice.