“Tough but fair”: all Plasberg guests are suddenly against Lauterbach

AOn Monday night, Frank Plasberg asked the question “Our stadiums are filling up, others the clinics – is Germany having a Corona shower?” The guests in the study were Andreas Gassen, orthopedic surgeon and traumatologist and chairman of the board of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Karl Lauterbach, member of the SPD of the Bundestag and epidemiologist, Dieter Hallervorden, cabaret artist and director of theater, WELT author Susanne Gaschke, Michael Preetz, Managing Director of HeDPha BSC, and Freetz Politician Karoline Preisler, who fell ill with corona in March.

At first glance, the guest selection rarely seemed varied. But when it came to their opinions, it was different. With the exception of Karl Lauterbach, no one seemed to really take the warnings of a second wave seriously.

The reproach of the afternoon

In view of the fact that Munich had to announce stricter measures a few hours earlier due to the increasing number of cases, the focus of the evening’s “tough but fair” broadcast was surprising: guests repeatedly advocate not disproportionately restricting fundamental rights .

“You cannot restrict basic rights in advance. And that’s what you’re doing right now, ”says WELT author Susanne Gaschke. Introducing bans simply on the basis of fears is inappropriate. You have to constantly ask yourself if the starting position is still there, as in March. To this end, parliament had to get involved again after the relevant decisions were delegated to the federal government in March.

“I want to put it very simply: we parliamentarians have the first and most important task in an emergency situation of this type: protect the people, protect the people. We have to do this based on the scientific data that we have. We do not make any estimates here ”, answers the epidemiologist and member of the Bundestag Karl Lauterbach.

The discussion recalls the beginning of the first wave in March: when many wondered if all the bans were justified. And as virologists have warned, you have to be one step ahead of the virus to stop the spread. “The fact that we currently have few cases that die is thanks to measures that would have been rejected with arguments like the one you just presented,” Lauterbach says.

But the other guests in the studio are of the same opinion as Gaschke. “Now we know that there were many measures that should not have happened like this. It shouldn’t have happened. So I think it is justified to question that now, “says FDP policy Karoline Preisler, who contracted Covid-19.

“When Health Minister Jens Spahn says in hindsight, ‘We may not have done everything right at first,’ I think that’s the right way,” says Michael Preetz, Managing Director of Hertha BSC, “We certainly have to try things. Because no one knows today exactly how this virus will develop. “

The exchange of blows in the afternoon

As controversial as opinions are on the subject of crown restrictions, Plasberg had a lot to do with defusing the discussion and bringing guests into the conversation.

“If the climate stays like this, which is not realistic, and the infection process that we have now would continue,” says Lauterbach, then with an R value of 1.24 we would have 7,000 cases per day in five weeks.

“Mr. Lauterbach, it doesn’t work that way,” replies Andreas Gassen of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. There has never been a constant R-value for so long. In addition, in this case we would only have a 25 percent occupancy rate in intensive care units. “And if it’s the weather, why are the people of Texas getting Corona?” Gassen asks.

“If you make this controversial on TV, we have no basis to argue,” Lauterbach responds, referring to a new study that found that more than 90 percent of new infections occur indoors, which will occur more frequently due to fall weather. .

Dieter Hallervorden also contradicts the epidemiologist. “I have to say honestly: this is no longer a warning, it is alarming. I don’t think that helps people either. You have to have some hope somewhere that things will get better, ”says the cabaret artist, who currently keeps his theater and the workplaces of 70 employees afloat with the help of his private assets.

The statistics of the night

But when you look at the numbers, it doesn’t seem like hope. There were 12,000 new cases last week, the highest since the end of April. Highest Daily Value: 2,297. In spring, it was sometimes three times higher. In other European countries, which may be ahead of Germany in terms of development, the situation is more worrying.

In Spain and France, the number of cases is significantly higher than in the first wave, in the Czech Republic and Romania even at least three times more. Vienna’s first hospital is full and can no longer accept Covid 19 patients.

The question of the night

The program theme “Hard but fair”: where does this difference come from? And after about half of the broadcast, the editors come up with a surprising thesis in a video report: Germany may have due this to typically German thoroughness, “social control,” as Plasberg calls it: for example, in front of the neighbors whose party reported to the police. becomes.

The guests laugh, but believe that the thesis is partly credible. But even someone has been reprimanded, for example, because the mask does not fit well, no one has been present.