A little more than two weeks after the Wiesn, the corona situation in Munich has eased significantly. The seven-day incidence is falling continuously after reaching its peak on October 11, said health officer Beatrix Zurek (SPD) on Thursday in the city health committee. And the hospitals are probably past the peak of the burden, said the managing director of the Munich Clinic, Axel Fischer, in the committee. Last week they had 250 staff shortages due to Corona, this week there are fewer than 100. “The tension in the hospitals is still high, but it’s going in the right direction. It’s getting quieter, even in the emergency rooms,” said fisherman. However, we are still a long way from regular operations.
The incidence had been 1497.4 on October 11, and this Thursday it was 479.1. However, one assumes a very high number of unreported cases, said Zurek, because not every infected person can be tested. Omicron continues to be the predominant variant.
The hospitals currently have 567 beds with confirmed Covid 19 cases, 48 of which are intensive care beds and 12 beds in intensive care. Compared to the previous week, there are 53 fewer corona beds. However, the problem is not the occupancy of the beds, but the sick leave among the staff, which is pushing the clinics to their limits, according to Zurek. Tests are carried out there consistently – and this is how Covid 19 cases are fished out, which probably went undetected in other companies.
The utilization of the test centers is currently less than ten percent. Some have been relocated near hospitals and old people’s and care facilities to meet the needs there. At the moment, 3,500 people are being vaccinated each week, and there is a discussion as to whether the city should continue to have vaccination centers. Negotiations are in progress with the government of Upper Bavaria to reduce capacity as needed. You don’t want to waste any resources, says Zurek.
The health officer also gave a short report on influenza in Munich: In mid-October there were 252 reports, the number is significantly higher than in pre-pandemic years. “We assume that we will have a strong flu wave.”
In the Munich clinic alone, more than 210 Covid patients are currently being cared for, more than 20 of them in intensive care and monitoring wards, the clinic said in a press release on Thursday. This is a significant increase compared to the previous month. Even if a large part of the patients are hospitalized with and not because of Corona, the effort for isolation and care remains the same.
“Today we are seeing mostly milder courses, but also new highs,” says Clemens Wendtner, chief physician for infectiology at the Munich Clinic Schwabing. The fact that more than 200 patients had to be treated at the same time was the last time the first Covid wave in 2020 was the case. At that time, however, the situation was different: all patients had the main diagnosis of Covid-19 and had to be treated more often in intensive care units.
The pandemic continues to be a challenge for the clinics, explained Managing Director Fischer. “The compensation payments have expired, staff losses due to infections are high, influenza is in the starting blocks, and the waiting times for plannable, no less important interventions are getting longer.” If clinic employees fall ill with Covid, they are only allowed to return to work with a negative test. Many are infectious for more than five days and are therefore absent for longer. Others are missing because they have to look after their children who tested positive at home.