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An evaluation of the data from the registry of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) concludes that Covid 19 patients in intensive care units are becoming younger and younger because many older, vulnerable individuals are now vaccinated.
The number of occupied beds, currently more than 3,000, is comparable to the situation in spring 2020, but the third wave is just approaching, so experts predict a sharp increase in patients to about 5,000 cases in early May. The Wel-le of intensive care patients always follows the wave of new infections, but with a time lag of 14 to 21 days. Congestion of the clinics seems to be pre-programmed again.
The good news, however, is that more and more people can be vaccinated, so that the situation could have calmed down by August at the latest if no further dangerous Corona mutant comes along and spreads quickly. The vaccination of the older generation alone does not necessarily lead to an easing of the situation, explain experts such as the vice president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lars Schaade, who knows that in the first wave only 25 percent of the intensive care patients were older than 80 years because many died in the homes.
In addition, because 21.6 million people in Germany are at risk for severe courses of the contagious viral disease, the vaccination rate must be increased quickly. According to the RKI, people over the age of 65 are particularly at risk, as are those with previous kidney disease and diabetes, as well as obesity.
3,000 patients can currently be cared for well and do not push physicians to their limits, both mentally and physically. However, if the numbers rise again, hospital staff will reach their limits. The capacity of intensive care beds also becomes tight.
Another concern of the experts is that the overburdening of the system and the staff could lead to an exodus of medical personnel once the situation has calmed down. However, lessons have been learned from the situation during the pandemic, which threatened to collapse in the first wave. According to one study, the number of severe cases of illness has been halved. Only 14 percent of those sickened in December 2020 were Covid 19 patients in intensive care units. However, if patients require invasive ventilation, the chances of survival drop to 50 percent.

Source: Stern