The decline in new corona infections is likely to be deceptive, experts warn.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin Several key figures indicate that the corona autumn wave has leveled off somewhat in the past week. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the nationwide corona incidence has risen significantly less in the past week than recently.
The number of new infections reported within seven days per 100,000 inhabitants increased by eight percent in the past week compared to the previous week, as the RKI wrote in its Corona Weekly Report on Thursday evening. A week earlier the increase had been 28 percent, two weeks earlier even 54 percent.
However, experts are not yet giving the all-clear. “The decline that can currently be observed is almost certainly not a trend reversal,” said the Berlin epidemiologist Timo Ulrichs to the Handelsblatt. “That would be achieved if the virus spread to less and less susceptible people.”
But that is unlikely for two reasons: “We still have more than 20 million unvaccinated people, and those who are already infected do not have good immunity to the virus because the omicron variant can infect people who are already infected a second time,” said Ulrichs.
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Rather, the current situation is more likely to be triggered by the high number of unrecorded cases of infection. “Many people are in the autumn holidays, and there is less testing, and the original environments are different,” said Ulrichs. “It could very well be that we will see more cases of infection again after the holidays are over.”
Similarly, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) explained the current decline in infections. “The increase in the number of corona cases is initially slowed down, an effect of the autumn holidays,” Lauterbach wrote on the short message service Twitter. “After the autumn holidays, a marathon against the virus begins.” The start of the autumn holidays differs from state to state. In seven, the holidays don’t start until next week.
The RKI also writes that the trend may be related to the autumn holidays. According to the weekly report, the number of visits to the doctor with a corona infection and symptoms of an acute respiratory disease in children aged 5 to 14 fell. In the 10- to 14-year-old age group, the RKI also recorded a decrease in the seven-day incidence. There had already been a downward trend in the week before.
Debate about mask and vaccination requirements continues
In view of the development, several federal states also want to waive the obligation to wear masks indoors for the time being. With the new Infection Protection Act, the federal states can introduce these measures at their own discretion. Health Minister Lauterbach also called for this.
The Berlin Senate, for example, decided this week not to extend the mask requirement for the time being. The state government in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania also announced this week that it would leave the Corona state regulation unchanged.
>> Read more: New rules since October – What applies in autumn and winter
The state of Baden-Württemberg even declared that it did not want to accept the federal government’s obligation to wear masks for residents in nursing homes and facilities for the disabled. Saxony-Anhalt’s Health Minister Grimm-Benne, on the other hand, who also chairs the Conference of Health Ministers, advocated wearing masks indoors as a matter of principle.
So far, there have been no efforts on the part of the federal states to tighten the mask requirement again.
(Photo: dpa)
At first glance, the demands of some countries not to extend the current compulsory vaccination in the area of health and care sound contradictory. Saxony, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia called for an end to the rule. The reason for this, however, is not the falling number of cases, but the fear that compulsory vaccination will exacerbate the shortage of staff in the healthcare system.
Because in clinics and care facilities, the high number of infections is causing massive staff shortages. “The institution-related vaccination obligation brings us more harm than good,” said Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU). “We need every available workforce in medicine, nursing and integration assistance.”
With agency material.
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