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WWe do not even eat what measures are really necessary to contain the pandemic during the winter? Today many people have that impression, and those who believe they know what is necessary and who have already presented a very small number of victims of the pandemic that just began in the spring are reproaching it.
In fact, there are now more than a million people registered in the Covid 19 death registry worldwide. Each one leaves dozens of mourners. The countless survivors, of whose health fate doctors have so far only had a vague and unclear idea, should also be included in the still provisional balance sheet. Therefore, there was no reason to doubt the dangerousness of the virus, at least for a significant part of the population, during the first wave, and there should be even less today. According to the experiences that are currently being carried out in European countries in particular, this is precisely the greatest risk: once again underestimating the disease.
Meanwhile, the significant decrease in the number of deaths does not change this. It was as predictable as the increase in the number of infections in the fall and winter; as did the increase in the number of people who tested positive among the younger socially active and less seriously ill. Of course, Covid 19 doctors, clinicians, and patients are now also benefiting from the therapeutic advances that have been worked hard and scientifically in intensive care beds. Remdesivir, the first antiviral drug, and inexpensive cortisone supplements like dexamethasone can reduce the risk of death for ICU patients.
Meanwhile, more testing is taking place everywhere, often earlier and more specifically. This means that infected people arrive at the clinic earlier, greatly improving the prospects for treatment. These are also learning processes that can be understood as concrete measures against the crown. Of course, the pandemic cannot be stopped even with strategically used virus tests. But the spread of the virus can be more effectively contained in this way; there is enough evidence. Part of the concept for winter will also include rapid antigen tests that can provide information on infectivity – that is, the risk of infection – in a matter of minutes. They are anything but science fiction. What the critics who make such a black painting retain is the effect on Corona’s already unstable morale.
It all depends on the right time
Which brings into play the most important of all known anti-crown measures: distance, hygiene, daily masks, crown application; also in winter: ventilate sufficiently. The new Robert Koch Institute strategy document and Leopoldina’s statement for fall and winter have spelled out what belongs in the pandemic containment toolbox with the necessary clarity.
The crown rules listed in it contain the individual, and therefore, in the first place, apolitical measures. Implementing them, consistently and whenever possible, is the responsibility of the individual. The rest is pandemic politics. The success of quarantine, contact tracing and travel arrangements, this has also been sufficiently documented in many countries since the beginning of the second wave, is mainly determined by the timing of the measure: so far, late implementation and inconsistent has always been punished. Adjustments that are based on empirical data and, for example, improve the tracking of possible infected people, especially in groups, are also being discussed today.
Anyone who thinks that the perceived blockage is due to ignorance and chaos of the measures leading the way is ignoring all that has been achieved. Rather, the following applies: It is not the virus that determines when it will finally be possible to return to normality: the virus has changed insignificantly. The citizens and their relationship to the Crown’s rules are even more decisive.
What about expensive medical advances? Of course, no one makes every scientific effort to ensure that virologists and epidemiologists can help keep morale high in the crown. But no one should expect medical miracles every week from the crown’s investigation. New therapies, such as monoclonal antibodies for passive immunization, which are difficult to produce, and long-awaited vaccines do not provide quick fixes, at least shortly before next spring. Deriving from this the demand that a pseudo normality must be enforced by “letting the pandemic run” and only radically “protecting” the elderly and people at risk, would be a change in strategy towards defeatism. Based on all the scientific evidence, this would only give the appearance of controllability and raise new and harrowing moral questions.
