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“Epidemiologically we would have to tighten” – Lauterbach fears “turbo virus”
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Austria opens – Germany likely to go into extra time
While schools, shops and hairdressers are allowed to reopen in Austria, the closure in Germany is likely to be extended. The next federal-state summit should at least offer a perspective plan for openness.
Calls for relaxation of crown measures are getting stronger. But the decline in the number of cases could be misleading, experts warn. SPD politician Karl Lauterbach even thinks it makes sense to toughen it up.
SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach warns of too optimism ahead of the federal-state conference on the status of the crown on Wednesday. Lauterbach wrote on the Twitter news service that it would be an “extremely difficult” decision. The population expects a relaxation because the number of cases is decreasing.
“Epidemiologically, we would even have to adjust it because the third wave threatens the turbovirus,” Lauterbach wrote. The SPD man relied on analyzes that the decline in the number of cases was misleading because the more contagious new mutant virus B 1.1.7 was spreading more and more. More recently, virologist Melanie Brinkmann warned in “Spiegel” that these mutations would “invade” us.
Lauterbach wrote on Twitter: “In my own calculations, I arrive at similar results. I am assuming a growth rate of + 35% / week today, which corresponds to an increased R value of around 40%. So we would have around 20% B117 / B1351 today. The number of cases will decrease until the end of February, then the third wave. “
Lauterbach called for “courage and transparency.” The worst solution is to wait until the third wave arrives. Lost time cannot be made up.
Kekulé doesn’t want to overestimate the mutation
Virologist Alexander Kekulé, on the other hand, said in an interview with WELT that he does not believe that the mutation alone is responsible for a change in dynamics.
“It is easier for politicians to say: it wasn’t me, it was the mutant,” Kekulé said. The typical argument is then: “The devastating figures have nothing to do with my handling of the crown, that was the third wave, the pandemic within the pandemic. For me, generally speaking, 90 percent of these outbreaks can be explained by mismanagement of the crown and ten percent by new variants. “
According to the expert, the new variants could only be extended “if there is an open flank in the defense concept.” Kekulé said: “Wherever they extended, the protective measures had always been relaxed shortly before.”
New housing variant in Lower Saxony
The last variant B 1.1.7 occurred in residents of nursing homes in the Osnabrück district who had already been vaccinated. However, none of the patients showed serious symptoms. We’re also in a good mood because it will continue to do so, said managing director Tim Rotthaus. “Of course, I can’t look to the future.” Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) wants the case examined.
The facility in the Osnabrück district has 100 seats. None of the approximately 160 employees tested positive for the virus variant. However, everyone is in the so-called family or work quarantine, from which they are only allowed to leave on the way to work.
For the general secretary of the German Society of Immunology, Carsten Watzl, the case “is not worrisome, but it shows that the vaccination is working”. Since there have been no severe courses at home so far, it can be assumed that those vaccinated were not defenseless against the virus.
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