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“The pandemic will only really start now. Here too.” This phrase comes from Christian Drosten, from an interview that the virologist gave to the World Health Summit together with its president Detlef Ganten. Although the conversation apparently took place several weeks ago, it was not made public until Wednesday. That is why Drosten specified his assessment of the situation in Germany on Wednesday evening on ZDF: From a mid-summer perspective, he said, “it will come again.” However, as of today’s assessment, there is no reason to be particularly concerned about next week.
“But looking so briefly is also completely wrong in this situation,” said Drosten, head of virology at the Berlin Charité. Now you have to imagine for Germany “that this can and probably will be the same as in neighboring countries” and think about how this can be prevented in the early stages. Finding the right time “is the biggest challenge in the immediate future.”
Population in Germany “extremely well” informed
Germany is as well armed as its European neighbors. There are some fundamental differences, for example in family structures and also in the level of information among the population, which Drosten rates as “extremely good” in this country. “But in general we should not imagine that we are in a special role or that we are somehow blessed,” said the virologist. Instead, one must realize that Corona is a natural phenomenon “that we have to deal with early, not just when it’s too late. Then it becomes exhausting, laborious, and also painful.”
The expert assesses the current situation in Germany as good, because “we are still very early, we can observe everything very well and we have every chance to intervene early and really control it. I think it is possible that we will do it in Germany.” , say, prevent the second wave. ”But that can only be successful with great concentration on the part of society as a whole.
In the video interview with ZDF, Drosten also focused on the responsibility of the individual. “Everyone has to be vigilant, that’s the most important thing!” Is their calling, because no ministry and no authority can have such a profound effect on everyday life. The principles must “be understood, and I think we have done very well in Germany,” Drosten said. “This is not the case in other countries. In other countries, the public does not even know what an aerosol transmission is, one also doubts whether it is relevant and everyone is constantly disinfecting their hands.” In Germany, people are very educated in this regard.
The individual, however, has to keep asking himself what decision he is making as a thinking citizen for himself and his environment. He cited celebrations and family gatherings as examples: “Do I have to celebrate the birthday party with 40 people in two weeks, even if I am allowed? Or should it be reduced this year?” or “How do we do that with family visits? How can we see Grandma and Grandpa, but how can we agree that as a family we could go into a short quarantine beforehand?”
Do a lot of work in schools.
In the field of schools, Germany has so far been less prepared. Since April it has been known that different age groups excrete roughly the same amount of virus. Since then, however, relatively little additional work has been done to address a situation that could arise if infections in schools continue to rise. “We have to find ways to do things so that schools don’t always have to close because of a few cases.” At the same time, “of course, you have to notice very early when a group appears.” At this point, there is still a lot of work to do in terms of organization.
Drosten believes that the hospitals are well positioned. Doctors said they learned a lot about treating the disease. Also, it is perfectly fine to reuse the capabilities of the intensive care bed for something else. “I think you can plan well there,” Drosten said. “The capacity of the bed that was created back then in the spring can be reactivated relatively easily because now there have been many processes and many reorganizations in the clinics.”
