Preparations in Frankfurt on Omikron
The Omikron variant is responsible for 0.5 percent of the cases in Frankfurt. A turnaround is expected. The companies are preparing.
The Corona variant Omikron is still rare in Frankfurt today. Yesterday, Tuesday, the health department was aware of 18 confirmed cases and twelve suspected cases. “That means 30 cases of around 6000 Covid-19 cases in December. With a rate of 0.5 percent, the Omikron cases are currently still low, ”concludes Wiebke Reimann, spokeswoman for the health department.
But that’s not a reason to sit back. It is true that 28 cases are caused in one trip, and in some countries, for example in South Africa and Great Britain, Omikron is already the predominant variant. But “this week for the first time two cases without any recognizable connection to a trip occurred”. That means: people have become infected within Germany or even the city – Omikron has started to spread in Frankfurt. The health department estimates that the variant will be predominant in Frankfurt in about three to four weeks.
Because the transfer is easier than with the Delta variant, the risk of massive staff losses in all areas increases with the spread of Omikron. This could be particularly problematic for service providers who provide critical infrastructure, such as the fire brigade. They have to ensure that almost 160 positions are manned around the clock, such as the control center, but also the vehicles of the twelve fire stations, which take six people to die for each car. “But we have not only had to do with a large number of cases of illness since Corona,” he fire department spokesman Rainerkamp on several flu waves.
The planning of the fire department provides, among other things, that a replacement on duty WILL be determined for each position. Should that no longer work due to major failures, the fire brigade can transfer personnel who otherwise work in the office to the emergency services. That is not a reason to panic, but “a completely normal story,” says Heisterkamp. “At no time is safety in question.”
The same system of “redundancies and substitution models” is also used in the university hospital. If a “particularly unusual stress situation” arises, step-by-step plans would come into effect, says spokeswoman Theresa Seubold. “Depending on the staff shortage, not all services may be provided in the same way.”
Emergency plans at the FES
The FES emergency plans also provide for similar mechanisms: “To compensate for sick leave, we have an internally trained driver pool,” says Stefan Röttele. “If too many drivers then still fail, we would prioritize. Garbage disposal is a factor in disease control. That is why it is much more important than traditional street cleaning, for example. ”Thanks to an internal vaccination program, the vaccination rate is currently over 85 percent.
At Frankfurt Airport you are well prepared for Omikron. The airport company Fraport separates the individual shifts of the operational airport fire brigade from each other so that the entire team does not have to be quarantined in the event of an outbreak. At Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS), the air traffic controllers in particular, but also other staff, are divided into A and B teams who are not allowed to come together.
At Mainova, which supplies parts of Frankfurt with energy and drinking water, encounters and thus contagion possibilities are avoided as far as possible through home office, home company car and contactless shift transfers, says spokesman Sven Birgmeier. Access to the control room is forbidden to unauthorized persons. All are equipped with utilities such as kitchens. If necessary, the employees could isolate themselves for days in order to remain able to work.
The police also use a special shift model and – where possible – home office to avoid contact. If necessary, there may be shifts in staff, says spokesman Tobias Rosenberger. The vaccination rate at the Hessian police is “well over 80 percent”.
The health department welcomes the vaccination offers that companies make to their employees. In order to slow down the spread of omicrons, it is currently particularly important.