Several federal states have officially activated the so-called cloverleaf concept for the strategic transfer of intensive care patients so that Covid 19 patients can continue to receive intensive care medicine despite emerging bottlenecks in some regions.
As the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (Divi) announced, a “larger number” of patients from Bavaria, Thuringia, Saxony, Berlin and Brandenburg will be relocated to other “clover-leaf regions” in the next few days.
The purpose of the so-called cloverleaf conference, which is exchanged daily or every two days, is to organize a nationwide transfer of patients if the intensive care units are heavily used in the region. The aim is to find free spaces and suitable means of transport. There is currently still free capacity in the north and in Hesse, for example.
Under the impression of the first corona wave, the federal and state governments developed a concept for the nationwide transfer of patients in spring 2020. In September last year, the so-called cloverleaf concept was then adopted by the Interior and Health Ministers.
The 16 federal states are divided into five groups – the North, East, South, Southwest and West clovers. Bavaria forms the clover leaf south, the states of Thuringia, Saxony, Berlin and Brandenburg are in the clover leaf east.
More on the topic on Tagesspiegel Plus:
If there are no longer any vacancies in one of these regions, the transfer to other areas will be organized in exchange with the joint reporting and situation center of the federal and state governments at the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Aid (BBK). A specialist group from the Robert Koch Institute is advising on this.
The steering group that coordinates the relocation will meet on Wednesday, said a Divi spokeswoman for the AFP news agency. It should also be clarified with which means of transport the affected patients would be transferred.
In the east and south of Germany, the seven-day incidence of corona infections is currently particularly high. It was highest on Tuesday in Saxony with 969.9, followed by Thuringia with 685.3 and Bavaria with 644.9. Some counties in these federal states have incidences over a thousand. The seven-day incidence indicates the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within a week. (dpa, AFP)
