The beginning of the pandemic was marked by great uncertainty in the health sector.
Dr Jean Reuter works at the intensive care unit at CHL. The respective hospital floor is marked by calmness, contrary to what one might expect after having seen the pictures of chaotic, war-zone like hospitals not far across the border in Metz, Mulhouse, or Strasbourg.
Here, no doctor is overburdened with an unstoppable influx of patients and lack of space, Dr Reuter emphasised. Nevertheless, the novel coronavirus put the national health sector in a state of grave uncertainty at the beginning of the outbreak.
During the first wave, a significantly higher number of people died within a short span of time, compared to how the second wave is currently unfolding.
Dr Reuter elaborated that younger people, who are by nature more resistant to this particular virus, are currently more affected by the spread than at the beginning.
Due to the increased safety regulations, the spread has more or less been brought under control as to no longer endanger the more vulnerable part of the population, which explains the stabilisation of the death rate in Luxembourg.
The virus' mortality rate increases drastically with patients above the age of 60. Moreover, studies show that Covid-19 is in general more harmful to men than women, whereas the infection rate is balanced between both. Another potential source of complications discovered thus far is obesity.
Dr Reuter highlighted the usage of Dexamethasone at CHL, a drug that was not used during the first wave of infections, since its efficiency in reducing the mortality rate of the coronavirus was only discovered recently. It is also known by now that it can be beneficial to treat patients with blood thinners right from the beginning.
The practice of intubating patients remains a topic for heated discussions among experts. Dr Reuter conveyed that the likelihood for the procedure had decreased in comparison to the first wave at the beginning of the year.
In general, he believes that the hospital staff is well-prepared for the second wave and emphasised that more discoveries are made very single day.
