Deutsche Reproduktionsmedizin in Zeiten der SARS-CoV-2-Pandemie

Findeklee, Sebastian; Döhmen, Georg; Döhmen, Cornelius

The coronavirus pandemic seriously changed our entire lives in 2020 – both in the private and in the medical sector. The pandemic-re-lated effects have reached an extent which was not imaginable before. So the federal government and state governments decided to take measures to curb the exponential spread of the virus resulting in a strong reduction of social contacts (social distancing) and a diminishing of all public life in March and April for approximately two months (so-called lockdown). These measures proofed successful from an infectious point of view. From late April to September a continuous decline in the number of new infections could be observed. On the other hand, reproductive medicine centres-like any other medical and non-medical institutions-experienced significant burdens because treatments were no longer possible or at least only to a very limited extent for a longer period of time. For example, the medical societies recommended refrain from elective treatments at the peak of the pandemic. Therefore, this review article in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine and Endocrinology (JRE) is dedicated to the effects of corona pandemic on reproductive medicine in Germany. First, general epidemiological aspects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic are presented. Then, the pandemic-induced effects on German reproductive medicine are described. The article terminates with an experience report from the Fertility Centre Niederrhein in Mönchengladbach/Krefeld, a conclusion and a view into the future. J Reproduktionsmed Endokrinol 2021;18 (1): 13–8.