A hospital chief classifies Omikron as flu-like. At the same time, more and more patients are coming to the hospital with and not because of Corona. The Prime Minister is waiting for scientific expertise.
It is the old question that has to be reevaluated again and again: How dangerous is corona? Or depending on the virus variant: how dangerous is the Omikron variant? In the meantime, it seems to have been confirmed that the Omikron variant is more contagious, but significantly milder in the course of time than the previous Delta variant.
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The number of infections is rising again: why an intensification of corona measures is proportionate despite milder omikron courses.
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Bamberg: “Like a moderate flu”
The severity of the infection with the Omikron variant is actually significantly lower and there is less strain on the intensive care units, explained the head of the Tübingen University Hospital, Michael Bamberg, on Tuesday: “The Omikron course is practically like a moderate or mild flu,” said Bamberg. With regard to the burden on hospitals, the head of the clinic gives the all-clear. The forecasts and calculations said that the peak of the omicron wave will be reached around February 17 and 18. After that, there would be plenty of beds available to care for the patients who were not seriously ill in the normal wards. “In this respect, I am optimistic that we will have essentially overcome this burden in a few weeks,” says Bamberg.
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The head of the Tübingen University Hospital gives the all-clear: Due to the usually milder course of infection with the Omikron variant, there are enough free beds for Covid patients in BW.
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Kretschmann: “We need reliable statements”
Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) also stressed again at the press conference on Tuesday that the Omikon variant is much more contagious, but not so harmful. Nevertheless, there are further questions to be asked in order to be able to assess the pandemic situation. On the one hand, the number of infections is high, as is the burden on hospitals and medical practices. On the other hand, the load on the intensive care units remains stable, according to the Prime Minister.
In his own words, Kretschmann is waiting for further expertise in order to be able to deal with an adaptation of the corona measures. “But what I would like is for the Expert Council to make reliable statements by the next Prime Minister’s Conference about how we now have to assess the situation with the omikornvirus.”
“People must not get the feeling that we are deciding something from the gut.”
In addition, Kretschmann continues, there are reports that there are now more patients with corona, but not because of corona in the hospital. But there are no reliable surveys on this yet.
Klinikum Stuttgart: more people with, not hospitalized due to Corona
At the Klinikum Stuttgart, this new trend is being noticed. “We have more and more patients in the normal Covid ward who are admitted not because of corona, but with corona,” Jan Steffen Jürgensen, medical Director of the Stuttgart Clinic, told SWR last week.
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Patients often do not even know that they are infected. They would come to the hospital for another illness, such as a broken leg. But since every patient is examined for corona with a PCR test, infections are often detected. The patients then have to be treated in the Covid ward despite other diseases. “This is a big additional expense,” says Jürgensen. It doesn’t matter if you are in the hospital with or because of Corona.
Discussion on measures also at the Prime Ministers’ Conference
How the corona measures should be adapted, whether and when easing is possible, will be the subject of discussion at the upcoming Prime Minister’s Conference. This will take place next week on Wednesday, February 16.
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