Hospitals are again groaning more under Corona: 576 hospital beds are currently occupied by Corona patients in Munich hospitals. 37 of these are intensive care beds and 15 are intensive monitoring care beds. The increase compared to the previous week is massive: 98 beds more in total.

But those are just the bare numbers as far as Corona patients are concerned. What they mean exactly is more complex. What is clear in any case is that patients are currently coming to the hospital "with" rather than "because of" Corona: The clinic on the right bank of the Isar, for example, sees "no increase in relevant Covid-19-related pneumonia" and also no increase in severe courses of disease that have to be treated in intensive care units because of it. That's good news. Nevertheless, their care in the hospital is costly because of isolation.

However, the fact that more people are using distance and masks to protect themselves and have protected themselves against Corona infection is having a completely different impact this fall: More people are again suffering from other respiratory diseases - and also ending up in hospital.

The rate is significantly above the pre-pandemic level, as the spokeswoman of the Klinikum Rechts der Isar explains: "While immune competence against Sars-CoV-2 is currently high after vaccination and recovery and only a few severe cases occur, our immune system also has to cope with all other cold pathogens again".

The fact that these illnesses are increasing in the population is in turn also being noticed by the clinics' own staff. The staffing situation "continues to be tight," according to the clinic. However, this is almost something like the normal state of affairs in the clinics and a Germany-wide phenomenon.

However, the supply is not affected by this: There are "currently no noticeable consequences for patient care," according to Klinikum Rechts der Isar. Emergencies would be "cared for in the best possible way" at all times, and planned operations would also take place without restrictions.

The fact that these must be partly shifted because of emergencies is the case in all Munich hospitals.

So the situation at Munich's clinics is and will remain strained, especially for staff. The shortage is structural in nature and has been known for a long time; more than two and a half years of the pandemic have also left their mark. And now, on top of that, there is the Wiesn wave and immune systems that are more sensitive to other diseases.

Image by Silas Camargo Sileo