First and foremost, the rescue service and the fire brigade are part of Offenbach’s critical infrastructure. When the omicron wave became apparent, dramatic staff shortages were feared and concepts were devised to keep operations going.
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When the omicron wave finally became apparent at the end of December, things got stressful for those responsible for the critical infrastructure. Hygiene concepts were tightened, the fire brigade and city police meticulously separated their service groups to keep failures as low as possible (we reported). In addition, there were generally strict contact restrictions.
Offenbach – In the meantime, the omicron wave in Offenbach has apparently passed its peak. The incidences have been falling steadily for many days. The worst seems to be over, at least for now. Time to take stock of how the individual sections of the critical infrastructure in Offenbach got through the wave.
fire Department
In the Omicron wave, the firefighters lost their staff due to infected employees who were seconded to isolation at home, says Offenbach’s fire chief Uwe Sauer. There were also “people with other illnesses that we have every winter.” Nevertheless, Sauer’s summary is positive: “We were still able to offer our full range of services at all times.” He is of the opinion that “all measures to ensure the operations of the critical infrastructure work well.”
rescue service
According to Sauer, who is also responsible for the rescue services, the rescue services also got through the Omicron wave well. The failures were moderate. There were never any larger or longer cancellations of ambulances, so that the rescue services were fully available at all times.
city police
City police chief Lothar Haack was very concerned about corona failures. Especially since his people also have to go where it is not always possible to keep sufficient distance. The tightened hygiene concept and the strict separation of the service groups when changing the guard were apparently successful. Haack reports after the wave: “We only had very isolated failures due to corona infections.” And only the traffic service was affected, not the service groups themselves. Haack is convinced: “But that’s also definitely because my people are 100 percent are vaccinated.”
health department
There were failures in the city health department due to Corona. However, this often affected employees whose children had to be looked after at home, says city spokeswoman Isabel Ahrens. “But the failures are limited.” Measures to ensure operations have had an effect and helped to cope with the Omikron summit. This included setting up individual workstations, video calls, home office and hygiene measures. Nevertheless, there were also overloads in the health department, Ahrens admits. Nevertheless, the ability to work has always been preserved. However, the services of the office had to be adjusted in high phases of the infection process. This included, for example, that the office only contacted infected people from vulnerable groups.
EVO
According to spokesman Harald Hofmann, energy supply Offenbach was completely focused on security right from the start of the pandemic. Because it was important to keep the waste-to-energy plant and the power plant on the north ring, but also electricity, natural gas and district heating networks running at all costs. “That’s why we also have strict access bans for all control centers and contact bans between the individual shifts,” explains Hofmann. Although there were failures, “it was never the case that shifts or emergency services no longer worked. The situation was manageable.”
Sana Clinic
The high level of corona infections caused by the omicron variant presented the Sana Clinic in Offenbach with major challenges. “In addition to patients who were and are still in our clinic due to COVID-19 disease or with this secondary diagnosis, we also had and still have an increasing number of staff shortages,” says Managing Director Sascha John. Nevertheless, the Sana came through the wave relatively well. “The comprehensive care of all patients was and is therefore ensured at all times,” says John. The wave has shown that routines and systems work thanks to the flexibility and commitment of the employees and that short-term adjustments in the hospital are also possible.
transport services
In the past few weeks there have been absences due to illness among the employees of the Offenbacher Verkehrsbetriebe (OVB) and Main Mobil Offenbach (MMO), including among the bus drivers. However, these could be intercepted. On the one hand, this was due to the fact that there were no school holidays and therefore only a few employees were on vacation, the OVB reports. On the other hand, administrative employees who are in possession of the bus driver’s license and the transport permit jumped in without further ado. As a result, there were no cancellations on the city bus routes.
By Christian Reinartz
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