Abstracts by keywords: Covid-19
The corona pandemic poses major challenges for the healthcare system. There was great concern about overload, particularly with regard to intensive care capacities. The discussion about the right prevention, therapy and care concepts remains intense [1]. In addition to symptomatic measures, the treatment concept for Covid-19 includes oxygen administration, non-invasive and invasive ventilation, thromboembolism prophylaxis and the administration of dexamethasone in severe cases [2]. The evaluation of routine data during the course of the pandemic can meaningfully supplement surveillance via legal procedures and the development of registers in a timely manner and without additional collection effort. The Quality Indicators for Church Hospitals Association (QKK e. V.) has therefore quickly added the topic of Covid-19 to its cross-agency quality benchmarking. The Covid-19 module includes 27 key figures in the QKK indicator set for 2021, including intensive care, complications, ventilation and mortality (see https://www.qkk-online.de/). The QKK e. V. can use the routine data from its member institutions to make a comparison between the first and second waves of the corona pandemic in order to support the further development of treatment concepts for patients with Covid-19.
07.08.2021
On the occasion of the current legislative process for the 4th Civil Protection Act, the group of authors is supplementing its previous seven theses with a second urgent ad hoc statement. “The “Emergency Brake Act” is highly problematic from a constitutional and legal policy perspective. It links the entry of z. Sometimes serious encroachments on fundamental rights are disproportionate to a politically arbitrary and uncertain “threshold value” that is unsuitable as a control value and can also be influenced by the new tests. The law shortens the legal protection, reduces it to legal actions for the control of norms or (limited) constitutional complaints and completely excludes the administrative legal process, which actually represents an indispensable legal protection for citizens for these encroachments on fundamental rights. The federalist principle is disavowed and any approach to differentiated measures to combat pandemics is excluded.
07.06.2021
The group of authors supplements the statements from theses 4 and 6.1 with a third ad hoc statement on intensive care. In correction of the version from May 16, 2021, in Chap. 4 the numbers of patients treated in intensive care are based on the daily value, the hospitalization/intensive care ratio is corrected to the length of stay of 10 days (Table 3) and a footnote (No. 30) is added which deals with the possible explanation for the decrease in the total intensive care bed capacity by outsourcing the pediatric intensive care beds. As of: May 16, 2021, 12:00 p.m., update from May 17, 2021
07.06.2021
Thesis paper 7.0 builds on the previous papers published in “Monitor Healthcare Research” (from MVF 03/20), updates the epidemiological analysis and focuses on vaccination and the classification of vaccination in the current epidemiological situation and the prevention concept . According to the authors, organizing a vaccination campaign is one of the most demanding tasks for a society and must be planned (and evaluated) like a multiple intervention, and individual information about vaccination is also mandatory. Three goals and strategies for the vaccination campaign are also conceivable, which are set out in the full text paper. The article published here is a short version of the full version, which has already been published in an online first version by MVF. Was standing; January 10, 2021, 12:00 p.m
01.02.2021
The significantly increasing proportion of positive test results to now over 2.5% indicates that the epidemic has spread widely among the population. As the group of authors expressed in its ad hoc statement on the occasion of the results of the Chancellor/Prime Minister Conference on October 14, 2020, the political leadership would have been called upon, on the one hand, to begin a discussion process with positive connotations instead of an ever-perpetuated threat scenario, how general prevention measures can be combined with specific measures and, on the other hand, what an adequate testing strategy should look like. All of this with the aim of achieving specific prevention as the basis for “stable control” of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic.
07.12.2020
The group of authors hereby presents its sixth theses paper on SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19. Due to the increasing complexity of the topic, this 6th thesis paper will be published in three parts. The previous three-part division and the associated interdisciplinarity and interprofessionalism will be retained; thesis paper 6 in its parts 6.1 to 6.3 again covers the aspects of epidemiology, prevention and social policy. In this sense, paper 6.1 presented here starts with the topic of epidemiology. Based on the current state of knowledge, we estimate the number of unreported cases and make statements about the reliability of the determination of the limit values for the reporting rate that are now in the law (e.g. “35/100,000”). Alternative indices for controlling the infection process (notification index, hospitalization index) are being newly developed and presented. Essentially, it is clear that the numbers currently used for control are neither valid nor reliable and are far from being achievable (implementable). The current approach to the topic therefore contradicts the findings of promising risk communication. On the way there, we remind you of the correct terminology, for example when using the term “incidence” and, by updating the data, point out positive developments in the outcome of the epidemic (e.g. hospitalization rate, mortality) and, on the other hand, what an adequate testing strategy should look like. All of this with the aim of achieving specific prevention as the basis for “stable control” of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic.
24.11.2020
According to Statista [1], in July 2020, the Federal Government's Corona Warning App (CWA) [2] was far ahead of all others in the ranking of the most popular apps in the Google Play Store in Germany and, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Recorded 16.8 million downloads [3]. On August 17, 2020 there were already 17.2 million, and at the beginning of November 21.9 million were registered [4]. This can certainly be seen as a success – after a long, perhaps too long, development phase. However, whether the app's intended goal of “breaking chains of infection earlier than previously possible” will be achieved and whether the software can thus be “another component of pandemic control that complements the classic contact tracking of local health authorities” remains an open question [3 ].
08.10.2020
The increase in new infections reported daily, the problem of travelers returning, the reopening of schools and kindergartens, the approaching election campaign - our group of authors needed to decide whether there should be a fourth paper after the theses from the beginning of April, the beginning of May and the end of June , no long discussions. The enormous dynamics of the current situation cannot be overlooked, especially since positive developments are now becoming visible behind the numbers, such as the quite significant drop in the hospitalization rate, the low intensive care utilization due to CoViD-19, the decline in mortality to 0.4% of infected people and - let's pick it out - initial findings of an apparently persistent cellular immunity, which seems to significantly strengthen the somewhat unreliable antibody-related defense (as is common in viral diseases).
08.10.2020
As early as 1927, the dentist Alfred Kantorowicz recognized that plaque (bacterial plaque) has an influence on dental health and that carious areas can develop (Kantorowicz 1927: 386). Since caries is one of the most common diseases in society (Rupf et al. 2019: 336), there is a need for preventive measures through dental prophylaxis (Schubert 2010: 347). The development of caries can be prevented through appropriate prophylactic measures. In addition to the six-monthly examination by the dentist, the use of fluorides and the right diet without excessive sugar consumption, daily tooth brushing is one of the four features of dental prophylaxis (German Working Group for Dentistry 2016). Especially in childhood and adolescence, it is important to educate this target group about caring for their teeth and to encourage them to do so, because missing or incorrect oral prophylaxis at this age can lead to lifelong problems and effects on dental health (Straehle et al. 1996: 13) . It is therefore necessary to introduce children to dental care at an early age and to begin oral hygiene at home before the first tooth emerges (Hertwig 2019: 69). On the one hand, children should learn the correct tooth brushing technique, and on the other hand, daily brushing should become a routine habit (Jacobson 2016).
08.10.2020
Thesis paper 3.0 builds on the previous papers (see MVF 03/20), updates the epidemiological analysis and focuses on the “third way” of specific prevention, the legal analysis and the problem of the corona tracing app. A strategy for stable control of the infection process and preventative measures to identify risk situations are described. Likewise, the path to returning civil rights that were restricted during the pandemic to a return to normality. The article published here is a short version of the full version, which was published by MVF in an online-first version.