On Friday, the German leadership warned that the system could deteriorate in a week if the current route continues. “The number of serious cases in intensive care is still rising. The death toll is something that hasn’t really been talked about and remains very high,” said Stephen Seibert, a spokeswoman for Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“We have not yet managed to bring the numbers down. We have basically managed to go through the first step so far, that is, to prevent a strong, steep and deadly increase in infection and we are now stable, but our numbers are still very, very high. is high. “
‘Patients deteriorate very quickly’
Michael Pert Pert, head of intensive care at Ernst von Bergmann Hospital in Potsdam, just outside Berlin, is equally concerned about the dramatic increase in recent weeks – and expects things to get worse.
“We’re not at the top of the wave anymore, at least as far as I can see,” he told the visiting CNN team this week. “And we have the capacity for a few more patients, but if this is going at the speed we are experiencing right now, I would imagine that our hospital also has 1,000 beds, where we have to send patients to get treatment at home or in other hospitals. . ”
Betty Scade, chief nurse at the Covid ward at the same hospital, describes how the ward has changed over the past few weeks. “The number of patients is increasing. We are getting a lot of patients with different degrees of illness. Both are for the general covid ward, but many come to the emergency unit and have to be admitted to the ICU very quickly.” . “We are currently experiencing a lot of patients from the common covid ward being put into the ICU very quickly because patients deteriorate very quickly.”
This also applies to many younger patients with severe symptoms, said Tillman Schumacher, a senior infectious disease physician. “We have patients here in their 30s or 40s who are on a ventilator and I’m not sure if they survive.”
Only two of the ICU’s 16 beds were vacant and hospital staff are already canceling non-emergency operations to free up capacity – as well as planning to convert its more general intensive care facilities into covid units.
Dr Uwe Johnsons, head of DIVI, explained what action would be taken if the current situation continues to increase. “The regular program of hospitals has to be shut down, regular operations have to be partially stopped and you can delay the admission of patients for several weeks without any stress, they can delay. There are people who do not need an emergency. Surgery or emergency. Catheters or something like that. They can be delayed. And by doing this you can gain capacity and help nurses and physicians ICU physicians and ICU nurses on their wards. “
After considering non-covid patients, 22,066 intensive care beds in the country were occupied as of November 20, while 6,107 remained vacant. The convention center in Berlin, Germany, has a reserve of about 12,000 ICU beds, including a field hospital hospital bed.
Despite the large capacity, Health Minister Jens Spa warned earlier this month that ICUs would be filled if daily infection rates continued to rise to current levels. “We are now seeing an increasing burden and the risk of drowning in intensive care, hospitals and GPs,” he said in an interview with German state broadcaster ARD.
Germany helps other European countries
And that could be bad news for the whole of Europe. So far, Germany is taking Kovid patients from neighboring countries whose health care systems are overflowing.
The German Foreign Office confirmed to CNN that during the first wave of epidemics between March 21 and April 12, 232 patients were transferred to Germany for treatment – 44 of them from Italy, 58 from the Netherlands and 130 from France. Also in the fall, the federal states of North-Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland were given places for 36 patients, three of whom were from the Netherlands, 25 from Belgium and eight from France, a Foreign Office spokesman said.
“These patients need intensive medical care,” said Anja Wangneroth, a spokeswoman for the University Hospital Munster in M રાnster, North Rhine-Westphalia. His hospital set up a system in the spring in which Benelux countries – Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg – could request for an ICU bed, a plan that is ongoing. The North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs confirmed to CNN that “46 hospitals have currently agreed to accept foreign Covid-19 patients. Currently 76 beds are on offer. ”
During the first wave of the epidemic, its hospitals took in 32 French patients, N. Funk, head of the Department of Border Cooperation in Saralland, Germany’s smallest federal state bordering France, told CNN. October In late October, Saarland gave France eight beds; Three patients have been transferred today.
“We want to help where we can,” Funk said. “We don’t want to discriminate between nationalities. At the moment we have abilities. We are coordinating with medical and local authorities in France based on individual needs. We are here to help. “
So far they can continue to do so, but it is not clear how long Germany’s ICU is filling up quickly.
Anti-epidemic protests
Germany has recently seen a spate of protests against the country’s anti-epidemic measures, with many protesters denying the severity of the virus.
Nationwide partial lockdowns require rest restaurant rent and bars to be closed, people will avoid traveling, keep their contacts to a minimum and limit public meetings to members of two different households. Schools and shops have remained open. Germany’s federal and state leaders will meet at the next step to decide on the introduction of the next step.
On Wednesday, thousands of people gathered near parliament in Berlin as legislators inside planned a debate for more legal powers to enforce the ban. Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowd, many of whom were not wearing face masks.
This is considered a slap on the face like a scad by the medical staff working hard to keep people alive. The chief nurse said, “I listen to some people but I know people who say things like that: it’s like the flu or can be compared to the regular flu.” “We don’t understand what people are saying right now! Of course we’re all afraid that maybe someday we won’t make it now and in Italy patients may be out of cars and get oxygen treatment. There’s not much capacity anymore.”
Germany is still a long way from such scenarios but, there are still thousands of ICU beds available in the country, while Pper Pert had a warning message about the epidemic and another wave of its dynamics.
“It’s different, it’s harder,” he said. “Now we tend to see more patients. Not only in the Berlin / Potsdam region, where we have a heavy load of intensive care patients, but the number is rising across the country and they are still churning, they are not coming down. At the moment. “
.
