The fact that, despite high case numbers, mouth and nose protection is no longer mandatory in schools, stores and many other indoor areas is viewed critically by the medical professionals interviewed by the GA. With the coming fall and winter in mind, they also show no understanding for the fact that not even a mandatory vaccination for over 60-year-olds was able to gain majority support in the federal government.

Jörg Abel does not mince his words: "This is a slap in the face for all those who have been vaccinated.” The specialist for internal medicine is a member of the board of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians North Rhine and runs a family practice with his associate Britta Zühlke in Duisdorf.

The doctor points out that the quarantine regulations are intended to provide better protection for everyone, especially for people who have not yet been immunized. To do it only on a voluntary basis doesn’t work at all, he says. Nor, in his opinion, should the mask requirement have been waived in view of the continuing high numbers of coronavirus infections, Abel is convinced.

Bahareh Vojdani, an internist with a family practice in Weststadt, agrees. She is definitely in favor of compulsory vaccination for all those for whom there are no medical reasons that could speak against it, she says. "We managed it with measles, after all." But she says she's glad that doctors' offices also put the mask requirement in writing for the first time.

Like Abel and Zühlke, she observes that the omicron variant can cause long-lasting and extremely unpleasant symptoms, including very severe sore throats, even in younger people. However, it leads less frequently to hospitalization. Currently, she is seeing more patients with so-called normal viral infections, i.e. colds. But she believes this could be related to the changes in the weather in recent weeks with it alternating between cold and warm. "Many people don't seem to be coping very well with that at the moment."

More colds

Abel also sees an increase in colds - at least compared to the previous two years, when people had very limited social contacts because of the pandemic, or had to limit them in the lockdown as well. "If you compare the numbers with those in the years before the pandemic, however, they are rather lower now." What has failed to materialize, however, is a true flu epidemic, he said. "We still have a lot of coronavirus patients, though."

Demand for COVID vaccines is currently stagnating, say all of the doctors. "Those who did not want to be vaccinated from the beginning are still not willing to do so," Vojdani says from her practice. One aspect that also worries her: "Many patients did not go to their normal check-ups during the pandemic.” Yet early diagnosis is particularly important in the case of serious illnesses.

For doctors like urologist Stefan Latz from Bad Godesberg, the elimination of the quarantine requirement would have become a huge problem, he says. Latz treats many cancer patients, many of whom already received the second booster vaccination, but who could still become infected. "For me, that would have been sending a completely wrong signal, because we also don't know which variants will hit us next. That's where I'm certainly biased as a physician who treats many high-risk patients." For Latz, this is his principle on not just COVID but also other illnesses: "Those who are sick should stay at home and get well."

Orig. text: Lisa Inhoffen

Translation: ck