Fight against Corona: intensive care physician Karagiannidis: "We are running out of time"

While the cases of new corona infections in Germany are increasing rapidly, the intensive care doctor Christian Karagiannidis is sounding the alarm. “The limited operability of the intensive care units and the lack of staff have reached an all-time high. The employees are working hard to do what they can, but they are increasingly at the limit, ”wrote Karagiannidis, head of the intensive care register of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (Divi), on Twitter on Saturday evening. In the RBB "Abendschau", the doctor warned: "We are really running out of time at the moment."

Karagiannidis expects that the threshold of 3,000 Covid patients in intensive care units will be reached in the next two to three days. On Saturday, the Divi reported 2,941 Covid patients who need intensive medical treatment. The number rose by around 1,000 within two weeks. Regional differences are more pronounced than in previous waves of infection. "Above all, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Saxony and Thuringia are causing me great worries," said the intensive care doctor. In addition, the number of nurses decreased substantially during the pandemic.

Karagiannidis told the RBB that the "most" unvaccinated people were in the intensive care units. There are also increasing numbers of people who have been vaccinated twice, but these are often elderly people and patients with drugs that dampen the immune system. More vaccination breakthroughs can also be seen in normal wards, but these patients are protected from severe disease. With booster vaccinations, the likelihood of ending up in hospital or intensive care is much lower.

67.5 percent of Germans are currently fully vaccinated. In order for the virus to be combated successfully in the long term, the number of people vaccinated would have to be significantly higher. In some cases, special incentives increase interest in vaccination. While it was the free Thuringian bratwurst in summer, the Mecklenburg Lake District was able to induce numerous people to vaccinate with a similar lure on Saturday: The rescue workers based in Neubrandenburg organized an “open day” and offered roast pork.

Within four hours, 201 visitors were vaccinated, said vaccination coordinator Sebastian Buse of the German press agency.

At times there was a long queue.

Among those willing to vaccinate were 48 women and men who received their first vaccination and 130 who received their third immunization.

With the offer, two birds could be killed with one stone: On the one hand, the vaccination campaign was boosted, and on the other hand, the medical and care train was able to try out newly acquired field cookers.

For the food they were looking for buyers anyway, according to the vaccination coordinator.

Across Germany, the vaccination rate is currently 67.5 percent who are fully vaccinated.

Pressure on the federal and state governments is increasing

But since this is still too low and the number of infections continues to rise, the pressure is growing before the federal and state meeting on Thursday. In a call on Saturday, 35 leading medical professionals and other experts called on governments to change course quickly. The researchers, led by internist Michael Hallek and virologist Melanie Brinkmann, complain "the repeated negligent treatment of the well-being of people who depend on the protection of the state". They warn: “Every day of waiting costs human lives.” In the appeal published by the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger and Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, they call for a national crisis team with experts and practitioners from virology, medicine and companies.

Meanwhile, there was criticism from the ranks of the Greens of the traffic light parties' plan to let the special status of the epidemic situation expire on a national level.

The Green Health Ministers of Hesse, Brandenburg and Baden-Württemberg are calling for an extension of the special legal situation, which would allow contact and exit restrictions even without renewed approval by the Bundestag.

"This ensures that all the measures required by the experts can be implemented," says a statement by Kai Klose (Hesse), Ursula Nonnemacher (Brandenburg) and Manne Lucha (Baden-Württemberg), which the German press Agency is present.