German hospitals have been concerned about the heavy casualties from the COVID-19 in its staff in the midst of what has already been called the “summer wave” of the pandemic.
“Information is reaching us from all federal states that some departments have had to suspend their work due to lack of staff,” said the president of the German Hospital Society (DKG), Gerald Gassto the media of the RND group.
Work in emergency departments has had to be partially interrupted, Gass said, adding that “it is a situation that worries us, especially thinking about the fall.”
In hospitals in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein (north of Germany) the situation is especially difficult.
The regional manager of the DKG, Patrick Reimundsaid that the so-called Kiel Week, a nautical event in the state capital, may have relaunched the pandemic.
The Vice President of the Liberal Party (FDP), Wolfgang Kubicki, a native of Schleswig-Holstein, has proposed cutting the quarantine periods to alleviate the situation in hospitals.
Specifically, Kubicki has suggested that someone who has tested positive can go back to work in the hospital three days later if they have a negative antigen test. Currently the deadline is five days.
The German Foundation for Patient Protection has rejected Kubicki’s suggestion.
“That would be promoting the uncontrolled spread of the virus,” said the president of the Foundation, Eugen Bryschto the newspapers of Funke Group.
Brysch proposes increasing the quarantine period after a positive to 10 days and that shortening it is only possible with a negative PCR.
The figures have risen sharply in recent weeks and the weekly incidence, according to the latest figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for virology, reaches 687.7 infections per 100,000 inhabitants.
Some experts believe that the true figure may be double since many infected they do not confirm the positive with a PCR and therefore do not appear in the statistics.
The pandemic in Germany
In absolute terms, according to the RKI, Germany registered in the last 24 hours 147,489 new confirmed infections and 102 deaths related to the disease. From the beginning of the pandemic there have been 28,542,484 confirmed cases and 141,397 deaths.
The high infection figures also concern the Education Union (GEW) whose president, Maike Finner, has asked to create legal conditions to make the use of masks and regular tests possible to avoid school closures in the fall. (EFE)
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