COVID-19 has lost much of its fearsome reputation. Most Germans are vaccinated or have acquired critical immunity. Still, general practitioners like Lars Rettstadt are busy.
“It’s typical infection season again. There’s a lot of sniffling and coughing,” said the doctor in Dortmund, a city in western Germany. “When we open the door on Monday morning, there are 70 people without an appointment: men, women, young and old.”
According to their estimates, 80% of them due to viral infections. Half of them are due to COVID-19.
Without a mask mandate, most patients don’t wear one. Rettstadt’s practice offers them for 50 cents. He has set aside an hour just for infection appointments, and patients can also reach him by video. PCR tests are reserved for those in particularly bad shape.
“We no longer see severe cases,” he said, adding just one patient, aged 94, had to be hospitalized due to COVID-19.
Otherwise, the symptoms mirror the same old winter symptoms that keep other people from taking some time off painting to stay in bed at home. Still, in poor health conditions, the days can last up to two weeks.
While the disease may not be fatal, it does cause major disruptions. According to the Robert Koch Institute of Public Health, up to 10% of the population is sick, and offices and offices struggle to stay open. And in the run-up to the Christmas season, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach recommended other people get vaccinated.
The official seven-day incidence is 38, which is low compared to the 2000 omicron wave in early 2022. However, with sporadic checks, this figure can be misleading. A recent wastewater check showed more COVID-19 in the water since this form of control began in June 2022.
Another bureaucracy of PCR tests recommends an occurrence of about 3,900 in seven days in the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, said Frankfurt-based virologist Martin Stürmer. That’s up from 2,600 a week ago.
“We are at a time when coronavirus numbers are increasing tremendously,” he added.
The coronavirus figures are in addition to the usual cases of flu and respiratory illnesses. Yet these haven’t translated into a higher burden on hospitals and ICU wards, said Stürmer. The death rate has also remained stable.
Of the many variants available lately, the “JN. 1 subvariant, successor variant to pirola, is currently to blame for nearly one-third of cases,” he added.
Although the risk to the general population is low, Stürmer called on at-risk groups, especially people over the age of 60, to get vaccinated. These add a layer of defense against what is known as long COVID, the long-term effects of COVID. -19. Masks can also be a good idea, he went up, the public has little interest in returning to them.
“The willingness to get vaccinated is also low,” Stürmer said. “I think these are all points that we can address, especially through positive and meaningful communication. “
This article originally written in German.
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