“Air up” – Patients get almost no Covid medication from the doctor

So far, about 240,000 cycles of therapy of the two oral drugs “Paxlovid” and “Lagevrio” have been delivered in Austria and only a little less than a fifth of those have been prescribed to patients – mainly in Vienna and Lower Austria, as the “Ö1” morning news reported on Wednesday. Katharina Reich, Chief Medical Officer at the Ministry of Health, confirmed that there was “room for improvement” and that “further educational work needed to be done”. “There still seems to be a lack of information,” said the chairman of the GECKO task force and the Corona Commission. In any case, they work closely with the pharmacist and the medical association.

Risk of a serious course reduced by up to 90%
The two drugs are administered in tablet form and can be given to patients at risk through the general practitioner. They prevent the coronavirus from multiplying in the body and should be taken at the beginning of the infection if possible. If used soon after a positive test, they reduce the risk of a serious course of the disease by up to 90 percent.

After a positive antigen or PCR test, a phone call to the GP is often sufficient. The medication can then be collected directly from the pharmacy. In Vienna, the Vienna Health Service (MA 15) proactively contacts risk groups, interactions with other medicines are also clarified and, if corona medicines are prescribed, they are delivered directly to the patient by bicycle courier.

Still serious courses and plus in hospitals
In the omicron variant, the symptoms are “not as pronounced,” said Arshang Valipour, chief of the department of internal medicine and pneumology at the Floridsdorf Clinic and head of the Karl Landsteiner Institute for Pulmonary Research and Pneumological Oncology in the “Ö1” interview. . However, it is a misconception that processes are not that difficult. It would “nevertheless be important that people at risk take these drugs”. Only recently did the doctor’s parents take the medication after positive corona tests. “Tolerance and safety are given and there is good protection as well,” says Valipour.

The current fall wave is increasingly hitting domestic hospitals. In total, 1,863 infected people had to be treated in Austrian hospitals on Tuesday, 166 more than on Monday. That was the highest value in six months. According to the current corona prognosis, “a further significant increase in normal health coverage can be assumed”. For almost half of those infected, Covid-19 is the main reason for hospitalization. But in either case — whether as an incidental finding or cause — “more intensive care is required,” Valipour emphasized. The hospitals also register corona-related staff shortages and “are again being taxed more heavily than in times when the number of infections is lower”, according to the doctor.

Smoke vs Masks
Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) has currently ruled out the reintroduction of the mask requirement. That will only happen if the situation in the hospitals “escalates, becomes threatening, an emergency occurs,” he said in the interview “ZiB2” on Wednesday evening. Countless doctors are already opposing this attitude.