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On Sunday, December 13, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the governors of the 16 länder met and approved new measures to halt the growth of coronavirus infections. “There is an urgent need for action,” Merkel said during her post-meeting press conference. Bavaria’s president Markus Soeder said that “the Bergamo scene is closer than we think. To prevent this from happening in Germany as well, we must act consistently. “
In recent weeks, Germany has registered very worrying data and above all a constant growth of infections. Last Friday, according to Robert Koch Institute (RKI), which in Germany is tasked with monitoring all coronavirus data, has reached a new peak of new infections: 29,875 in a single day, almost 6,000 more than the previous 24 hours, when there were 23,679. On Sunday, the number of infections dropped to 20,200, but, as in Italy, the reduction in testing capacity over the weekend affects the figure.
The numbers that convinced Chancellor Merkel to intervene quickly are also those of the deaths caused by Covid-19: on Wednesday and last Friday, Germany reached the peak of deaths recorded in a single day. On Wednesday 590 people died from the coronavirus, while on Friday 598. These figures are very high, considering that in Germany, so far, there have been 21,787 deaths in total, according to the latest update on Sunday.
On Wednesday, Merkel intervened in Parliament to announce her intention to introduce stricter measures. “As difficult as it is – and I know how much love has gone into preparing the mulled wine and waffle stands – all this is not compatible with the rule of being able to buy food on the street and then consume it at home. I’m sorry, I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart, but if the price we have to pay is 590 deaths a day, then it’s not acceptable. ‘
The new prohibitions
The new measures will be adopted from Wednesday, December 16 until at least next January 10: stores must remain closed, as well as schools. A ban on drinking alcohol in public and the sale of fireworks have been introduced to prevent New Year celebrations. People can meet in groups of up to a maximum of five people, belonging to two families (excluding children under 14 years of age). A relief from this measure is planned between December 24 and 26, when the länder can allow a family to invite four close relatives: spouses, partners, siblings and grandchildren.
Each land will establish rules based on the epidemiological situation. Schools and kindergartens will close on Wednesday, December 16 and until January 10, but each school can decide whether to introduce distance education. Hairdressers and beauty salons have also been closed, the closure of bars and restaurants that will continue to guarantee take-out service has been extended. Travel is not prohibited, but it is advised to avoid non-essential movements: those arriving from countries at risk must undergo quarantine. On the other hand, religious celebrations will be allowed: as long as distances of one and a half meters are respected in the church, and that there are no songs.
– Read also: Angela Merkel’s passionate speech calling for more restrictions on Christmas
Because Germany has decided to close
The increase in infections began to be significant as of December 4: until the first week of December, the new positives were on average 18 thousand per day, in the second week the threshold of 20 thousand per day was exceeded: according to the latest updates, in Germany there are 169 infected per 100,000 inhabitants in the last week. In Italy, in the last week, infections per 100,000 inhabitants were 190.
Hospitals are under pressure: 4,552 beds are occupied in intensive care and infections among health personnel continue to increase.
Uwe Janssens, an intensive care physician and member of the German Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), said that there are regions in Germany where ‘between 5 percent and 10 percent of ICU beds. This is not enough to help such a high number of sick people, “he explained. “The load is very high, the pressure is very high. The psychophysical stress of health workers is immense. ‘
The biggest problems are among the older population, and especially in nursing homes, where infections double compared to August. The alarm was raised by Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute, who last Thursday spoke of an increase in “worrying” data and the risk that, after a stagnation of a few weeks, the trend in the number of infections could increase again . it grows fast.
Downtown Essen on the first day of the “light” confinement in November (AP Photo / Martin Meissner)
Wieler also said that it would be necessary to reduce social contacts by at least 60% to reduce the contagion curve. Merkel also referred to the affection for the elderly to raise awareness among the German population: “If there are too many contacts now, on the eve of Christmas, and this should end up being the last Christmas we will spend with our grandparents, then we would have done something wrong. And we cannot allow it, ”Merkel explained during last Wednesday’s speech in Parliament.
One of the problems of the second wave was one of the strengths of the German reaction to the first wave, namely the ability to trace the contacts of people positive for the coronavirus. According to Die Zeit, there has been a change in strategy compared to the first months of the epidemic: swabs are carried out mainly on symptomatic people and not on all positive contacts, limiting the effectiveness of the contact tracking. In this way, however, there is a risk that many asymptomatic positives may transmit the infection, especially where there are no strict measures such as confinement.
The same thing happened in Italy between October and November, when the contact tracking many cities, including Milan, have gotten into trouble. As early as October, German Health Minister Jens Spahn told Bloomberg that local health authorities could not track transmission chains.
To all these problems are added the long times in the distribution of the first doses of the vaccine, due to the production difficulties of Pfizer-BioNTech. The European Union’s European Medicines Agency (EMA) has not yet approved the vaccine developed by BioNTech, which is based in Mainz. Hanno Kautz, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, announced that 3-4 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine will be delivered in January and that 11 million will be available in March.
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