The BW Ministry of Social Affairs has brought forward a hearing on possible easing to Monday (February 14). Chancellor Scholz announces that he wants to talk about opening steps on Wednesday (February 16).
Shortly before the Prime Minister’s Conference on Wednesday (February 16), the Baden-Württemberg state government wants to know from experts what the normal wards of the clinics are currently capable of. It depends on how much the Corona requirements can be relaxed. The hearing was originally scheduled to take place four days later.
Experts from the University Hospitals in Freiburg, Tübingen and Ulm are invited to the hearing of the State Ministry of Health, as are representatives of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians and the Hospital Society. Their assessments should be the basis for further possible opening steps, as the SWR learned from the Ministry of Social Affairs.
The main question is whether the highly contagious omicron variant leads to an overload of the health system in Baden-Württemberg or whether there is still sufficient capacity in the hospitals due to the milder course. In other words: Can the normal wards cope with the growing number of corona-positive patients who are not seriously ill with Covid-19? Compared to other corona variants such as Delta, Omikron is responsible for significantly milder courses. However, due to the high number of infections that Omikron brings with it, the number of Covid patients in the normal wards of the hospitals is increasing.
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Corona is found in many patients who come to the hospital because of another illness. For hospitals like the Klinikum Stuttgart, this means enormous challenges.
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Staff shortages due to omicron cases?
A critical factor is that more and more hospital staff are absent with a corona infection. As is the case with the clinics of the health network of the district of Konstanz (GLKN). On Thursday (February 10), they announced that they would temporarily postpone planned interventions “due to the renewed rapid increase in the number of infections in the district and the associated increase in hospitalizations”. The clinic group is currently in emergency operation.
“The renewed spread of the corona infections is also increasingly affecting the staff of the GLKN, which is why we have to temporarily restrict operations and interventions that can be postponed across the network.”
Of course, emergency treatments such as strokes, accidents or urgent operations are not affected.
Or staff shortages because of the quarantine rules?
Basically, those responsible in the country assess the situation as follows: there are enough staff to deal with the burden of the omicron wave, but quarantine rules are the problem. The rules for isolation have already been relaxed and will come into force on Monday (February 14).
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Employees of critical infrastructure should no longer have to be in quarantine if they are in contact with people infected with corona. The rule will go into effect on Monday.
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The green-black state government is taking precautions in the event that important employees in critical infrastructure are absent due to the rapid spread of Omikron. As announced by the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Interior, people should be able to be brought back to key positions, even if they should actually remain in quarantine as close contacts or household members of corona infected people. However, you must not be infected yourself. In the event of a corona case in the immediate vicinity, only unvaccinated employees or those whose second vaccination was more than three months ago have to isolate themselves.
The ministries announced that these rules could be extended to infected employees in the future if the personnel situation in critical infrastructure companies continued to deteriorate. “Hospitals, nursing homes and other important structures must remain able to act,” said Social Affairs Minister Manfred Lucha (Greens). According to Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU), the pressure of the Omicron wave for critical infrastructures must be “cushioned as best as possible”.
Further easing: raising the thresholds in BW?
Next, the threshold values for warning and alarm levels in Baden-Württemberg could be adjusted to the circumstances of the omicron wave and corrected significantly upwards – depending on the outcome of the expert hearing on Monday. From this, the state government also wants to derive proposals for future limit values within the Corona tier system. The findings of the clinic representatives and epidemiologists should be the basis for the further corona strategy in Baden-Württemberg and possible relaxation steps two days before the next Prime Minister’s Conference.
The epidemiologist at the State Health Office, Stefan Brockmann, expects regular corona tests to end and the isolation of infected people to end this spring. After the end of the winter season, you will probably really have a new situation, said Brockmann on Thursday evening on SWR television. “We will stop routine testing.” You get tested when you’re sick and you stay home when you’re sick. In addition, of course, one will try to abolish isolation and isolation and get back to normal life. “And then we will have to stretch very hard and see how we can improve our vaccination rates so that we are well vaccinated for next fall.”
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The epidemiologist at the State Health Office, Stefan Brockmann, expects a relaxed Corona spring. Regular tests and isolation could then end, he said on SWR.
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Chancellor Scholz: Take the first opening steps at federal-state meetings
On Friday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said during his inaugural visit to the Bundesrat that at the next federal-state meeting on Wednesday the first opening steps in the corona pandemic would be taken.
“The scientific forecasts show us that the peak of the wave is in sight,” said Scholz. “This allows us to take a first step towards opening and then others for spring at the federal-state meeting next week.” Scholz emphasized that, as before, they will be guided by scientific expertise. “Because we don’t want to jeopardize our success now.”
Meanwhile, Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) warned against relaxing too quickly: “We are still seeing an increase in the number of cases that we have never had before.”
The extent to which the results of the hearing in Baden-Württemberg will affect the federal-state meeting on Wednesday is still open.
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