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In some regions and cities, such as Berlin or Saxony, Covid patients now account for almost a quarter of all intensive care patients. In other large cities and in southeastern Germany it is more than 16 percent, according to the so-called Divi Register. “That’s a lot for a single disease,” Colonia medical specialist Christian Karagiannidis told SPIEGEL. “But it seems that we are entering a ‘steady state’ where the load is constantly high, but is no longer increasing.”
For the next several weeks, it can be assumed that the number of Covid patients who come to the intensive care unit every day will remain roughly the same. “Currently we can handle that well,” says Karagiannidis, who is also president of the German Society for Internal Intensive Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine. “But it depends on how long.” Because the permanent tension in the staff is high. “If the physical and psychological stress continues like this for weeks, the medical staff will eventually be exhausted, and after the second wave we have even fewer employees in intensive care units.”
In addition to Covid patients, there would be patients without Covid-19, who would also have to be treated in the intensive care unit. “Especially now in the cold season,” says Karagiannidis. “Although we suspect that Lockdown Light also reduces other common colds and that people in general are becoming more cautious.”
To make the best possible use of capacities in Germany, Karagiannidis suggests that Covid patients be distributed to free intensive care beds throughout Germany. “We need a concept of coordination and transportation at the national level so that we can make optimal use of our capabilities.”
How is the situation throughout Germany?
The Divi Intensive Care Registry shows in which part of Germany how many intensive care beds are currently occupied and how many of them are with Covid patients. Around 1,300 clinics regularly report their occupation to the Divi. If all beds are occupied, the hospital record is shown in red. If capacity is almost reached, yellow. Where there are enough beds, it is shown in green. Divi’s summary shows that a total of 5,468 of the 22,150 intensive care beds in Germany were still free on Tuesday, 445 fewer than the day before.
Across Germany, there are currently almost 4,000 Covid-19 patients in hospitals, about 60 percent of them require invasive ventilation. The intensive care units of German clinics are not yet fully used. However, Covid patients typically stay in the intensive care unit for several weeks. That means: These beds will not be available so quickly again. At the same time, new Covid patients are added every day.
In the event of bottlenecks, hospitals must have emergency capacity ready, which they can release in seven days. This adds another 12,000 intensive care beds across the country. However, that would require suspending or postponing other treatments, which is not always without risk.
For weeks, intensive care doctors have urged the population to comply with protective measures to contain the coronavirus. “We are in an absolutely exceptional situation that we have never experienced in the history of intensive care medicine,” Gernot Marx of the German Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine said Monday.
Each group that is not currently meeting can help a few more people survive. From Marx’s point of view, the agreed blocking measures should have been even more stringent. Because the corona pandemic is pushing him and his colleagues to the limit.
The fact that even well-developed healthcare systems can reach their limits is demonstrated in Switzerland, where the number of infections has increased dramatically recently: around 500 of the total 876 certified intensive care beds are occupied by Covid patients. The Swiss Society of Intensive Care Medicine then raised the alarm.
