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Herr Doktor Çelik, we talk about your work regularly as a senior doctor in the isolation ward for Covid-19 patients at the Darmstadt Clinic. What is the current situation?
Unsurprisingly, more things are happening in our neighborhood. We no longer treat non-Covid patients here, only confirmed cases and suspected cases. For that we need the whole station again. We currently have four Covid patients in the normal and four in the intensive care unit, in addition to a high number of suspected cases every day. We were expecting this increase, it occurred almost exactly two weeks after the incidence, that is, the number of new corona infections in seven days, increased here in the circles. 10-14 days later, the first seriously ill patients end up in the hospital. We know that if you keep a close eye on incidence and age distribution, you can prepare well. With the current figures, the Frankfurt hospitals will definitely be preparing for more patients to come soon.
So many that one has to worry about capacity?
In cities where the incidence is increasing so rapidly, it is mainly young people who are infected so far. And we tend not to see them in the hospital. However, there is a risk that other age groups will soon be more affected again. Then more people would go back to the hospital. The challenge is to continue to protect populations at risk as the numbers rise. We are preparing for more suspicious and positive cases, but fortunately we are still a long way from reaching the limits of our capabilities. But there is much more to do than three weeks ago.
Where were the patients you are now being treated infected with?
It is a combination of the predictable and the unpredictable, which is now characteristic of Corona. The chains of infection are partly incomprehensible: we have patients who give credible assurances that they have not actually left their homes for fear of infection because they have previous illnesses. You may have ever been to the GP, but they pay a lot of attention to hygiene. In any case, we are no longer in the situation that mainly affects those who return to travel. Our patients are between 40 and 85 years old, some had previous illnesses, some are young and were previously healthy. It also happens that this disease has a very severe course in young patients. Anyone who works at such a station can confirm it.
Do patients usually arrive at the hospital on time?
You don’t come as soon as I would like. With Remdesivir, we currently have a drug that shows the best effect in the first five days after the onset of symptoms and severe progress. More than half of the patients who have come to us in recent weeks have been late for remdesivir treatment. You have had symptoms for seven to ten days, then remdesivir no longer helps.
