“The virus is part of our life”

In Germany, the number of new corona virus infections is on the rise again: restaurants, schools, and kindergartens are now open again. Do you need a change in strategy to deal with the fall and winter pandemic?

Virologist Hendrik Streeck calls for more risk when it comes to Corona. From his change of strategy, however, only one “adjustment” remains with “Anne Will.” Corona traffic light gets approval. You should come to Rhineland-Palatinate.

The guests

• Malu Dreyer (SPD), Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate

• Frank Ulrich Montgomery, Chairman of the Board of the World Medical Association

• Hendrik Streeck, Director of the Institute for Virology and HIV Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bonn

• Marina Weisband, author, political activist (formerly Pirate Party)

• Ranga Yogeshwar, science journalist

The positions

While the crown situation in other countries worsens after the summer, Germany seems to want to gradually return to normalcy. Too soon, Frank Ulrich Montgomery warned with a view to Bundesliga matches in front of the public. “I still think it’s too dangerous,” she said in “Anne Will.” “We are far from out of the corona epidemic.”

“In fact, I’m sure we have the situation pretty well under control,” Malu Dreyer said. She defended the different regional regulations criticized by Montgomery in the fight against the Sars-CoV-2 virus. This federal strategy was very successful. “Of course there are common rules,” stressed the Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate to the federal government. But local health authorities should be able to act differently depending on the number of new infections.

“Take a different look” was Ranga Yogeshwar’s most important advice to the audience before they got mad at the different strategies. “Same rules for everyone” is, unfortunately, too simple a concept to be able to properly assess the current situation. Germany was incredibly lucky with the comparatively low number of deaths. The result: Corona remains an abstract danger to most people. But that could change quickly, because: “It is winter now.” That will be the real challenge, Yogeshwar said.

The exchange of the night

Hendrik Streeck recently caused a sensation by calling for a change in strategy in the fight against the corona virus. In assessing the situation, one should no longer limit oneself to the sheer number of infections, he told “Welt am Sonntag.” “I think it’s important that we look at different factors at the same time,” said the “Anne Will” virologist. This included the number of free intensive care beds and available testing capacities.

“This is not a strategy change, it is a smart strategy adjustment,” criticized Montgomery. Streeck agreed without resistance and adopted the colleague’s chosen words. In essence, however, he stayed true to his criticism. In the last six months, “an incredible amount of data has been collected” in the fight against the pandemic. These could now be used intelligently, for example to calculate threshold values ​​for different areas or regions. But: “We don’t use the data at all because we are primarily looking at the number of infections right now,” Streeck complained.

He advocated a greater willingness to take risks, for example by approving individual major events, provided good hygiene concepts exist. There are simply no certainties at the moment. “So we have to try, we have to do trial and error,” Streeck said. In response to Will’s objection as to whether that was not too risky, the virologist replied: “What is the alternative? The virus is part of our lives. Everyone expects a vaccine. I find it quite doubtful because we cannot tell when a vaccine is coming. vaccine “. That could go this far in a few months, but it could also go on for decades: “We just don’t know.”

The date of the night

Streeck also wants to avoid focusing on new infections in any other way. He came out in favor of a crown traffic light to inform the population about the current daily situation. “I’m an absolute supporter,” Dreyer said of this green-yellow-red system. This system is currently being developed in Rhineland-Palatinate with the municipalities.

“We have to create more transparency,” demanded the SPD politician. A crown traffic light could ensure clear rules and therefore help combat suspicion of arbitrariness. The majority of the population is still behind Covid-19 measures. The federal government had recently reached a record value in the ARD Germany trend with a 66 percent approval rating. “We have to work to maintain this trust,” Dreyer warned.

“We have to communicate better,” said Marina Weisband and asked that students, for example, be directly involved in deciding on protective measures at their school. For the author, schools and kindergartens are currently the areas in which to concentrate in the fight against the Crown: “After that, nothing comes for a long time. And in the end we talk about football and concerts and celebrations” .

Fact checking

The number of cases in this country is increasing significantly. But Germany is still getting away relatively lightly. This apparently applies even to a direct comparison with the situation in spring. The editorial team of “Anne Will” made this clear by comparing statistics from two days. On April 15, there were nearly 2,500 new infections in this country, about 2,700 intensive care beds, and a death rate of seven percent. 2,300 new infections were recorded on September 19, but only 257 were in intensive care beds and a mortality rate of 0.1 percent.

Why are the values ​​so good? Asked the presenter of Streeck. There are many reasons for this, the virologist replied. A simple reason is: “The comparison is limping”. Meanwhile, many more tests are being carried out than in spring and the number of unreported cases stands out. Therefore, more sick people without serious symptoms are analyzed and registered.