Omikron situation: Hospitals warn of new levels of escalation

Because of Omicron
“Many seriously ill patients”: Hospitals are warning of a new extent of escalation

The number of new infections reported has been falling for almost three weeks. However, due to the particularly contagious Omikron variant, experts fear an imminent trend reversal. In view of this situation, the German Hospital Association (DKG) has warned against an escalation of the situation in German hospitals. “If the prognoses are confirmed, according to which the Omikron variant is much more contagious than Delta and the vaccination protection against severe courses is also weaker in non-boosted people, in the worst case we will have to deal with a large number of seriously ill patients at the same time.” said the DKG board chairman Gerald Gaß of the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”.

The fifth corona wave would be fatal

For the hospitals, this would be a further aggravated situation, “which goes beyond everything that we have experienced so far,” warned Gaß. “According to the scientists’ calculations, this fifth wave would hit us before the current high level of occupancy in the intensive care units has fallen significantly,” he told the newspaper. Further personnel bottlenecks are also conceivable: In countries such as Great Britain and Denmark, one can see that the high number of infections means that significantly more employees in the healthcare sector are absent due to corona. “Even more seriously ill patients and massive staff shortages at the same time would be a further escalation of the situation that goes beyond the previous one,” emphasized the DKG boss.

Experts are calling for further contact restrictions

Gass appealed to the government not to rule out further restrictions on contact. “We must then not lose any time, then we must act immediately, even before the numbers go up in Germany and an overload of the hospitals can no longer be prevented,” he emphasized. Because of the rapid spread of the omicron variant of the corona virus, the federal government is considering further restrictions on events, according to media reports.

Contact restrictions before Christmas?

At a special meeting of the federal and state governments before Christmas, corresponding contact restrictions could be decided, reported the editorial network Germany (RND) on Sunday evening, citing government circles. In a decision published on Sunday, the Federal Government’s Corona Expert Council recommended the rapid introduction of new contact restrictions due to the spread of omicrons. According to the experts, there is a need for action “already for the next few days”.

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AFP