A year in a state of emergency – for the physicians Reck, Brümmer and Linke (from left)
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Am The coronavirus reached Lower Saxony on February 29, 2020. On Man from Uetze in the Hanover region was infected with the virus in South Tyrol. A challenging time began not only for the patient himself and his relatives – and later for many other affected persons across the country. Many doctors and practices found themselves in a new situation. Felix Reck, Axel Brümmer and Annette Linke are doctors in a group practice in Uetze – just a few kilometers from the place where “patient 0” lives.
How did you find out about the first case in Uetze and what went through your head?
Felix Reck: I found out about it from the newspaper and immediately thought: man, we’re starting here too. Are we well enough prepared? What do we as doctors, as a practice, have to do now to counter the expected infection rate? It then only took three or four days for the health department to ask us to visit someone at home. That person was infected too. It all happened very quickly that we were confronted directly with Corona. AxelBrümmer: At first we were completely perplexed. It was clear that the infection would come closer to Germany. Even after the first cases appeared in Bavaria. But it was a bit of a question why Uetze now. It is a rural area where people have a lot of space. It turned out how the infection process got to Uetze.
Those returning from South Tyrol brought it with them. How did the first Corona home visit feel?
AnnetteLeft: I had all the protective clothing with me in the car and then put it on outside the door. It was a very strange feeling. You only know that from the hospital, that you “disguise” yourself so intensely. If you’re supposed to do that out on the street now, that was funny. That continues to this day.
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How did you experience the people in Uetze – in the place that was first affected in Lower Saxony?
AxelBrümmer: People were shocked. Similar to how we were. That you were suddenly confronted with images like this when the first ambulances with fully disguised paramedics were on the road in Uetze and the images were going through social networks. These are pictures that we only know from Asian countries. We had never seen anything like it here before. That applies equally to us doctors.
Did you feel well prepared for the situation?
AxelBrümmer: I believe that one cannot be prepared for such a situation, for such a pandemic. Even the elderly have not been through anything like this before. In this respect: We weren’t prepared for it. We tried to improvise, to stock up on protective materials and to change our processes.
What have you changed since the outbreak?
FelixReck: We have set up an infection consultation hour. This means that here in the mornings from 11.30 a.m. we only let patients with acute infections individually into the practice. We doctors then put on protective clothing and treat the patients. We make swabs and send them to the laboratory.
How does Lower Saxony stand in terms of infections and vaccinations? An overview of the anniversary of the first infection. more
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They also had to improvise on protective clothing. What was that like?
AnnetteLeft: We have always had FFP2 masks to care for tuberculosis patients – but of course not in the required amount. You then made do by bringing things from home with you. I took FFP2 masks that I actually had for cleaning the chicken coop. We bought protective clothing – painter’s suits – at the hardware store. And we sewed a lot of masks that the patients could then use. FelixReck: Little by little, we equipped ourselves with face protection – with a plexiglass pane that we then attached to the head with elastic straps – as spit protection. None of us have ever had to do that before. And we didn’t even know whether the protection was sufficient. So far, however, nobody has been infected in practice.
Have you worried – about yourself and your families?
FelixReck: Naturally. I was afraid for myself, my family, my employees. The fear of getting infected in the office and carrying it home with you is still there. AxelBrümmer: Yes, but not necessarily about women and children who are fortunately young and healthy. But of course especially for the older generation, for the grandparents. That changed the way we live together over the past year. We only saw each other from a distance, several meters away on the terrace. This is just as stressful for us as it is for the rest of the population.
What is your balance sheet for the past year?
AnnetteLeft: It’s been a bad year. Lots of worries, lots of stress. The concern for the patients and the staff was very bad. AxelBrümmer: I would describe it as a permanent state of emergency, from which we may gradually work our way out, but which we are actually still in at the moment.
Do you have any hope that things will get better soon?
AnnetteLeft: At the moment I don’t have that much hope that things will get a lot better. But of course you want that for the future. FelixReck: We hope for the near future that we, as general practitioners, will quickly be able to vaccinate the patients ourselves. That there is enough vaccine that we can store so that we can vaccinate the population quickly. AxelBrümmer: Every day you find yourself in a rollercoaster of emotions, between hopeful news – keyword vaccination and a decline in the number of infections – and a new temperature curve, where the bad news outweighs. And according to my perception, this continues.
Do you have any criticisms of the vaccination strategy?
FelixReck: We would certainly have wished that, as doctors and employees who are directly confronted with most of the sick, we would have been vaccinated earlier. But we have now risen in the prioritization of vaccinations. AxelBrümmer: We would have liked better communication in some places. On the one hand with regard to vaccination, but also on the development of broader test strategies. Unfortunately, this is a bit confused and the information is sometimes very hesitant. We only find out many things from the press. As a medical practice working at the front, one would like to receive information quickly.
Did you learn anything from the pandemic?
AxelBrümmer: I believe that as a practice we will be better prepared for further pandemics, for example that we will store more protective clothing. That was not the focus so far. And we will very likely continue the infection consultation. In the past, infection patients and surgical patients often sat together in the waiting room, for example. We will certainly try to separate these patient groups from one another in the future.
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