Saturday, November 13th, 2021
“Are difficult weeks ahead of us”
Merkel wants a common hospitalization limit
Chancellor Merkel urges the federal and state governments to act together in view of the rapidly increasing corona numbers. A uniform procedure is particularly important when using the hospitalization index, says Merkel, and calls for a threshold value to be set quickly.
The Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel has issued an urgent warning of the corona pandemic and once again called on people to vaccinate. “There are very difficult weeks ahead of us,” said Merkel in her video podcast. A year ago they were in a similarly serious situation, but now there are vaccines. “We just have to grab it, grab it quickly. I ask you: join in and try to convince relatives and friends too.”
Every corona patient should get the best possible treatment. But there should also be space and staff in the hospitals for everyone else in need of treatment. “But that is precisely what is no longer possible in the districts most severely affected by Corona. The wards are full, patients have to be relocated. Surgery appointments are being canceled. Doctors and nurses who are still in the bones of the last pandemic winter are already on the verge of being overwhelmed, “said Merkel.
In view of this, Merkel called for joint action before the federal / state meeting next Thursday. “It has always helped us when the federal and state governments take action and commit to uniform rules,” she said. She referred to the so-called hospitalization index, which indicates the number of corona patients in the hospitals: In order for the correct conclusions to be drawn, the federal and state governments would have to “very quickly” agree on a common threshold, “from which on in each case according to regional infection values that go beyond the measures currently in force, additional steps to contain the pandemic “could be initiated.
“This threshold must be chosen wisely so that the necessary measures are not taken too late,” she stressed. Because one has learned: If a federal state comes to the brink of excessive demands, this will also have an immediate impact on its neighboring federal states. Merkel also emphasized the importance of booster vaccinations. There, too, things have to move very quickly now. To make progress there is a “national effort under great time pressure”, but also a real opportunity to break the heavy autumn and winter wave.