A look at the clinics in the district shows: The hospitals are now significantly less affected by severe courses of illness in patients with COVID-19. For example, the number of patients with COVID-19 in the intensive care units of the RKH clinics in the district was still around 60 in November 2021, but this figure has now fallen to less than 30 despite the rapidly rising incidence - and the trend is downwards. The incidence has therefore clearly decoupled from the number of hospitalized patients.
The problem for hospitals - but also for other areas of critical infrastructure - is now more to do with staff shortages, for example due to quarantine orders for infected people or people who have been in contact with a person who has tested positive. "With the KRITIS procedural regulations, we have created an option here that enables care facilities, for example, to take countermeasures unbureaucratically and ensure security of supply," says the District Administrator. The KRITIS regulation allows providers to grant exemptions for non-infected employees with quarantine orders whose work is urgently needed without consulting the public health department.
District Administrator Allgaier still considers it necessary to keep a close eye on the hospitalization rate and the occupancy of intensive care units. Nevertheless, in view of current developments, he also considers it appropriate to relax the coronavirus rules. Moderate openings are also suitable for maintaining acceptance of the regulations among the population. "It is important for all of us to have a clear goal in mind," said the district administrator.
