The corona numbers for Munich are increasing slowly but steadily. As of Thursday, the seven-day incidence was 864.7. “We are in the middle of a wave,” commented speaker Beatrix Zurek (SPD) on the numbers in the health committee. The wave has long been a permanent condition. But one thing is different: the number of unreported cases is likely to be far higher than before. Rapid tests are no longer available to everyone free of charge, and Omikron – the suptype BA.5 is currently the predominant variant at 82 percent – the course is often milder, which is probably why many patients are no longer registered. “The incidence is definitely twice as high,” Zurek believes.
In fact, there is less and less testing: 176 stations are still in operation in the city, but the utilization is just five percent, according to Zurek. 88,000 quick tests can be carried out every day – but the average is currently just 4,307 per day. At the moment there is a little more vaccination, in the center of the Gasteig and in two other stations there are eight teams, but it is all a “really tedious business”. Because, according to the specifications of the Bavarian State Ministry of Health and Care, the vaccination capacity had to be increased by mid-September, the Gasteig on the first floor would still be expanded.
The fact that the pandemic is far from over is also shown by the figures from the Munich hospitals: 439 beds with confirmed Covid 19 cases are currently being reported, 38 of which are intensive care beds and ten are beds in intensive care. In total, there are 95 more occupied corona beds than the week before. The managing director of the Munich Clinic, Axel Fischer, draws a comparison: A year ago, on July 19, 2021, there were just two sick people in the Corona wards of the Munich Clinic and two in the intensive care unit. The incidence was 18. Exactly one year later, on July 19, 2022, the incidence was 806, 146 Covid patients were in the hospital beds and 12 in the intensive care unit. Added to this are the many staff shortages due to Corona. “It’s all going in the wrong direction,” says Fischer. Nothing is heard from Berlin either, how things should go on now.
It is estimated that 48,000 people in Munich are struggling with Long Covid
And Corona will leave even more traces. The SPD, the Greens and the Left had asked the health department in three applications to show the current care situation for long-Covid sufferers. According to an estimate by experts and the World Health Organization (WHO), around ten percent of those suffering from Sars-CoV-2 suffer from long-term effects. In Munich that would be around 48,000 people.
In the city there are various medical care offers for people who suffer from Long Covid, in outpatient form or with special consultation hours at various Munich clinics. In the Munich Clinic Harlaching there is, among other things, a day clinic for the care of patients as well as a psychosomatic outpatient clinic. Individual care is guaranteed, emphasizes the health department in its submission. “But,” says Zurek, “we’ll have to deal with it even more in the near future.” Because the risk of long-Covid disease increases after each infection. And there is another problem: Because it is often difficult to associate the symptoms of those affected with Long Covid, the number of unreported cases is probably very high here as well.
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