Corona-News: One year waiting time for the country’s only long-Covid ambulance

News about Corona from March 7th, 2023

One year waiting time at the country’s only long-Covid ambulance

Tuesday, March 07, 2023, 06:20: Corona over, everything alright? No, says Astrid Weber, head of the only interdisciplinary long-Covid outpatient clinic in Rhineland-Palatinate in Koblenz. On the one hand, there are still new infections. On the other hand, at least ten percent of all Covid-19 sufferers probably suffered from persistent symptoms and one or two percent even from severe long-term impairments. There are a few particularly touching cases: “We had to prescribe a wheelchair for a 24-year-old woman. And a 14-year-old boy has even come to us in a wheelchair,” says Weber. “His muscles aren’t playing along anymore.”

Your outpatient clinic, which opened in May 2022 in the “Corona Competence Center” in downtown Koblenz, where tests and early therapies are also offered, cannot save itself from inquiries. “We have had around 320 patients so far,” sums up the doctor. “Every week we have around 30 inquiries. Our waiting time is now one year. At some point we have to think about closing the waiting list. ”The often desperate patients come from all over Rhineland-Palatinate and also from other federal states.

No wonder that Health Minister Clemens Hoch (SPD) is committed to more such outpatient clinics: “We are in discussion with the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV) as to whether there is a possibility of establishing a special long-Covid contact point in every major city.” After all, other infectious diseases could also trigger long-term consequences: “It’s not just Corona.” Hoch cites in particular influenza infections that have not been cured as an example. “We have a lot of diseases that we know today that the immune system is also involved.” Such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s. According to Minister Hoch, “the resident doctors have to decide to set up a long-Covid outpatient clinic, just like in Koblenz.”

According to the Ministry of Health, there are no concrete results from the talks that started in 2022. The KV emphasizes: “It has to come from the doctors.” KV spokesman Stefan Holler says: “We cannot assign an approval status there.”

The Koblenz pioneer Astrid Weber sees a problem with the fee. An appointment with long and post-Covid patients often lasts an hour, which she can also settle with her additional training as a psychotherapist – but not, for example, a family doctor: “He is only paid ten minutes. That can’t work overall.” She urgently wishes for more long-Covid outpatient clinics in the country – for her own relief and also for professional exchange.

Long Covid refers to symptoms that last more than four weeks after an infection or illness. Post Covid refers to symptoms or health disorders that are still present or new after more than twelve weeks and cannot be explained in any other way.

Astrid Weber says at her desk: “A lot is still unexplored here.” It’s like poking around in the fog. In 36 years of work, she has never experienced an illness “where we have to learn so much knowledge so quickly”. The whole person in all his systems can be affected, physically and mentally. So far, it has been possible to combat symptoms more effectively. “But it is also helpful for the patients that they feel that we take them seriously,” emphasizes the doctor, who, in her own words, works “easily 60 hours a week”.

At the beginning and end of an appointment, she also uses a dark blue hand-held power meter to try to fathom the performance of patients: how much of a difference is there? In some patients, the value drops considerably within an hour. Ann-Kristin Specht, Weber’s only permanent employee, says: “We need patience. Some people just fall asleep in the middle of the test.”

Many are seriously ill. According to Weber, they suffer from permanent exhaustion (fatigue), lack of concentration and stress, various types of pain or shortness of breath. Lust for life and strength dwindle away. Ann-Kristin Specht says: “The average age here is 44 years. The youngest patient is 12 and the oldest 83 years old.” Striking: three quarters of all visitors to the Long Covid outpatient clinic in Koblenz are women. Director Astrid Weber explains: “Women have a different immune system than men.” Meanwhile, next door, she lets a patient walk on a long red line with right angles for minutes to test her ability to exercise.

Much remains a mystery after three years of the pandemic. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) therefore wants to mobilize millions for research into suitable care for long-Covid patients. A competence center for the post-Covid syndrome is also planned at the Mainz University Hospital. According to Unimedizin, this is a contact point for those affected with needs-based, interdisciplinary coordinated diagnostics and individualized therapy recommendations as well as the development of prevention, diagnostics and therapy concepts.

Which corona measures hospitals voluntarily maintain

Sunday, March 05, 2023, 10:08 a.m.: Many hospitals in Hesse will retain some points even after most of the corona protection measures have expired, such as masks or visiting hours. Since March 1, visitors no longer have to bring a corona test when visiting someone in the hospital. Masks for employees are actually no longer required.

At the Frankfurt University Hospital, Hesse’s largest hospital, the employees “in the immediate patient care” will initially continue to work with mouth and nose protection, as Medical Director Jürgen Graf reported. According to his knowledge, around 80 percent of the clinics in Hesse think so.

The reason is that, on the one hand, the number of patients who – in addition to the illness for which they are hospitalized – is also diagnosed with a corona infection by chance has increased again. On the other hand, there are still some infected people among the staff and thus failures. “It would also be strange that visitors would have to continue to wear masks, but the staff involved in patient care would not,” said Graf.

Graf finds it “sensible and appropriate” that visitors no longer need a test as of this week. However, the university hospital wants to keep another restriction: limited visiting hours. These have been significantly expanded, but guests are still only allowed to come in the afternoon and should be limited to two people per patient and day.

As a reason, Graf said that it had a positive effect on the recovery of the patients and the burden on the staff “when the house and the hospital rooms are not so full”. In his estimation, the majority of Hessian clinics handle it that way.

Graf assumes that the hospitals will refrain from all measures when the Infection Protection Act expires completely on April 7th. To protect the patients, the hygiene plans of the respective departments apply again, for example in intensive care units or in oncology, as was the case before the pandemic began. That’s a good thing, Graf thinks: “Corona is now a seasonal infectious disease like others.”

Corona special rules: 14 out of 16 federal states make final exams easier for students

Saturday, March 04, 2023, 00:25: At 14 out of 16 German federal states are making the examination modalities easier for pupils for the final exams due in April at secondary schools, junior high schools, comprehensive schools and vocational schools as well as grammar schools. This was the result of a survey by the editorial network Germany (RND/Saturday) in all culture ministries and state governments. The only exceptions so far are Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate.

Accordingly, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein have decided to grant 30 minutes additional time for written exams.

As in previous years, Bavaria restricts the content of the written exams, but does not grant any additional time. In North Rhine-Westphalia, only the mathematics exams will be adjusted by an extended selection of tasks and an additional time of 30 minutes. When asked by the RND, Lower Saxony also announced that they wanted to use the leeway agreed by the Conference of Ministers of Education and were still working on the details.

Baden-Württemberg, Saxony, Hamburg, Saarland and Thuringia will carry out the tests again with similar simplifications as in 2021 and 2022. In the Hessian Ministry of Culture, no final decision has yet been made as to whether the exams should also be adjusted this year, a spokesman told the RND.

Rhineland-Palatinate, on the other hand, has already decided to carry out the exams as before the pandemic, the Ministry of Education informed the RND: “This year’s high school graduates were able to be taught in person as far as possible in the qualification phase for the Abitur. For these reasons, we have decided not to further simplify the Abitur examination this school year.” In addition, the federal state is the only one in which the examinations have already started.

According to a decision by the Conference of Ministers of Education, the state governments have the opportunity this year for the last time to ease the scope and duration of examinations in order to compensate for the loss of lessons during the corona pandemic. The federal states had the option of offering a larger selection of examination tasks, narrowing down examination topics in advance and/or giving up to 30 minutes additional examination time. It is up to the federal states to decide whether and which of the options to use.

You can read older news about the corona pandemic on the following pages.