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Monday, March 22, 2021
When the number of cases continues to increase
Lauterbach: curfew is the last resort
In the afternoon, the federal and state governments will discuss the next steps in corona policy. An extension of the blockade seems likely. Health expert Lauterbach believes the measure is absolutely necessary. If the number of cases continues to rise, curfews should also be unavoidable, the SPD politician said.
Karl Lauterbach, a health expert for the SPD, does not yet consider that a nightly curfew to contain the corona pandemic is absolutely necessary. However, if the number of cases continues to rise rapidly, it will hardly be avoidable, the trained epidemiologist warned Sunday night on “Bild live.” The reason for this is that the spread of the B.1.1.7 corona mutation is “four to eight times more contagious” than the previous virus when observed for one month.
“Until now, no country has managed to control the pandemic much faster with this mutation without there being exit restrictions in the confinement,” Lauterbach said. However, it should be clear: “Exit restrictions are the last resort, try to avoid them.” The only possibility to do this is offered by a “very strict test concept” with two tests per week in all schools and companies. The capacities to do so are “feverishly piling up.”
Lindner against curfews
However, in principle, the head of the FDP, Christian Lindner, rejects curfews to contain the pandemic. He said on “Bild live”: “I always consider exit restrictions to be disproportionate, too severe a restriction of freedom.” Furthermore, they are not necessarily useful for reasons of protection against infection: “If members of a household move outdoors, I see no reason to prohibit them from doing so.”
This afternoon, the federal and state governments are discussing how to proceed in the pandemic, which could result in tighter crown restrictions until Easter. A draft resolution from the Chancellery also contains a particularly controversial passage that provides for further tightening for districts with a seven-day incidence of more than 100 due to the exponential growth in the number of cases.
Among other things, there is talk of a night-time restriction until 5:00 am, “unless there are serious reasons.” The start time is left open here, it would also have to be negotiated.
Lauterbach is convinced that the extension of the confinement until April 18, which is planned according to the draft available for ntv, is “necessary without buts”. Otherwise, the death rate would double. “At the beginning of the third wave we have more Covid-19 patients in intensive care units than at the end of the first wave. So we are more or less full before it starts.” This should also be reflected in the number of deaths: “One in every two people who must be ventilated dies, including the youngest.”
