What is the difference between the first and the second/third wave of Covid-19? – German perspective

Abstract

Now it has been more than 12 months since the first cases of the new Corona virus variant SARS Cov 2 have been detected in China. The first wave of the pandemic hit a lot of countries hard and many patients died. Not enough specialized equipment and limited knowledge of the disease added to the severity of this first phase. We all learned from our mistakes made during this first wave of the pandemic and due to that the confidence to be able to manage the second wave a lot better was high. Nevertheless, much higher infection numbers, more patients in ICUs and in some countries also more deaths were seen during the second wave. In this editorial we will describe the differences between the first and second wave from a European-German perspective and look at the impact it had on different parts of our lives.

In general, some shortcomings were relatively easy to prevent from happening again. Basic equipment such as face masks, FFP2 masks and disinfectant is not an issue anymore. The respective political systems have solved that problem. Some countries also have learned from the first wave that prevention is the only option to reduce patient numbers hitting the hospitals and especially the ICUs.

Due to those facts, most of the European countries now thought they could deal with higher infection numbers. This, however, was an erroneous belief. Theoretical constructs such as a “Lockdown light” have failed to prove successful. Finally, only a hard Lockdown can bring down numbers sufficiently.

In Hospitals, the experience from the first wave helped to treat patients more effectively, leading to an improved infection number/death ratio. However, the political decision to react slow and sometimes only in increments and not with full force led to a huge increase in patient numbers and consecutively soaring numbers of cases needing treatment in hospitals and ICUs. While some countries managed this second wave a lot better than the first, Germany for example did not. Meanwhile more than 20 000 deaths compared to less than 10 000 in the entire first wave is a sure indication and it was certainly not caused by the medical performance in Hospitals being poorer the second time around.

For Orthopaedic surgeons, the second wave led to the same restrictions as the first one. Again, they became part of the interdisciplinary COVID-19 teams on the wards and again, the numbers of elective surgeries plummeted dramatically. Financial consequences will remain throughout 2021.

The second wave was a hard test for society, particularly as it hit its peak around Christmas time. Contact restrictions, closed hotels, forbidden fireworks at New Year all that is a challenge in particular for the younger people in the societies. All those restrictions, however, can never be an excuse for people delivering abstruse theories via social media or during demonstrations. Scientists all over the world deliver reliable information, these are the people to trust - they are the only experts. Some of them also successfully developed what we all hoped for – a vaccine. Although vaccination started some days back, it will take at least until autumn 2021 to have our normal lives back. Hopefully we all learned a lesson.