Berlin The federal and state health ministers want to fight the fourth corona wave with booster vaccinations for everyone, more tests in old people’s and nursing homes and more support for nursing staff. “The situation is sometimes dramatic, worrying and anything but all-clear,” said the chairman of the conference of health ministers, Bavaria’s head of department Klaus Holetschek (CSU), after the two-day consultations in Lindau.
It is important to break the dynamics of new infections, he emphasized. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported on Friday the highest number of new infections since the beginning of the pandemic. The health authorities reported 37,120 proven cases within one day.
The nationwide seven-day incidence, i.e. the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days, exceeded the high of the third corona wave in spring at 169.9. The highest value of the incidence in the entire pandemic was in the second wave at the end of December 2020 with an incidence of 197.6.
On Thursday, the RKI set the risk for incompletely or not vaccinated people from “high” to “very high” in its weekly report. The current development of the situation is “very worrying”, writes the RKI.
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If measures such as masks, spacing, reducing contacts and ventilation do not quickly reduce the number of infections, a further increase in serious illnesses and deaths is to be feared. According to the report, the treatment capacities of the intensive care units could also be exceeded in this case.
The hospitalization rate rose to 3.73. It indicates how many corona patients per 100,000 inhabitants have to be treated in the hospital. The value is considered a crucial indicator of the pandemic. The peak was also over 15 at the end of December 2020.
How do health ministers intend to break the fourth wave? An overview of the most important resolutions:
Testing more in retirement and nursing homes
Politicians are alarmed over new fatal outbreaks in nursing homes. It is about protecting the particularly vulnerable people, emphasized the acting Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU). The dramatic experiences of last autumn and winter should not be repeated.
For this reason, tests should be carried out more frequently in old people’s and nursing homes. The health ministers decided that employees in these facilities – regardless of their vaccination status – must be tested regularly.
In regions with a very high infection rate, he would recommend compulsory daily testing, stressed Spahn. Visitors also have to be tested – even if they have already been fully vaccinated. The tests are offered free of charge and paid for by the federal government.
On the other hand, there should be no compulsory vaccination for nursing staff in facilities for the elderly. During the election campaign, he experienced that after 18 months the pandemic had led to a lot of tension and a rift was partially going through families, said Spahn.
He considers it a “moral duty” that employees who deal with particularly vulnerable people should be tested. A legal obligation could, however, lead to a division in society and to the fact that the nursing staff who do not want to be vaccinated no longer come to work.
Booster vaccinations for everyone
Progress with third-party vaccinations could play a central role in the fight against the fourth wave. According to a study by Biontech / Pfizer, a so-called booster vaccination reduces the risk of infection to one twentieth.
Experts largely agree that the vaccination protection of people who have been vaccinated twice decreases rapidly after six months, especially in the elderly. This is already evident in the intensive care units. According to the RKI weekly report, almost 45 percent of the over 60-year-olds were fully vaccinated in the past few weeks.
So far, however, only around a third of this group has received a booster vaccination, i.e. 2.4 million people. The health ministers therefore agree that it is necessary to increase the pace here and offer all citizens a third vaccination. “Boosters after six months should become the rule, not the exception,” stressed Spahn.
The Secretary General of the German Society for Immunology, Carsten Watzl, also expects a lot from it. “People get a kind of super protection, so to speak, and can hardly pass the coronavirus on,” he told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “If the virus hits someone like that, then the pathogen is the end of the line and the spread is stopped,” added the immunologist.
The head of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), Andreas Gassen, does not see the booster vaccinations as a major problem. The third vaccinations will be managed. But the large group of unvaccinated people remains. These people would more or less all become infected by spring. “That remains a huge problem,” said Gassen.
Is a new lockdown looming?
There is hardly any threat of a new lockdown. Spahn emphasized on the TV broadcaster RTL that the decisive difference to 2020 is that you now have the instrument of vaccination. “Quite a lot of everyday life is possible” again. It is only important that this is and remains an everyday routine with caution, warned Spahn, with the 3G rule for vaccinated, convalescent and tested people or the 2G rule only for vaccinated and convalescent people in regions with high numbers of infections.
However, Spahn had already called for more thorough controls of access rules, especially in the catering sector. The German Hotel and Restaurant Association responded with a warning to the companies to implement the requirements consistently. “No ifs or buts: The applicable corona protective measures must be observed by all companies. This includes, in particular, consistent access control, ”said the association’s general manager, Ingrid Hartges, of the German Press Agency. Spahn also emphasized that there was a consensus that more control over the access regulations was needed.
KBV boss Gassen told Handelsblatt that from a medical point of view, the 2G option is understandable. “It is likely to be difficult to implement overall, for example in relation to children who cannot be vaccinated at the moment.” In addition, a mandatory introduction would raise constitutional and sociopolitical questions that could not be answered by medical professionals, he said. “Such a measure has an impact on society that must not be ignored.”
The booster vaccinations can be carried out in doctor’s offices, vaccination centers or vaccination buses. There should be no nationwide reopening of vaccination centers that are already closed.
Help for hospitals
Financial support for hospitals was also on the agenda of the Health Ministers’ Conference. If clinics to care for corona patients have to postpone interventions again, they should receive financial compensation.
The head of the Techniker Krankenkasse, Jens Baas, spoke out in an interview with Handelsblatt for further help. “If other treatments have to be suspended because of the intensive care unit occupancy and this puts clinics in financial difficulties, they should in fact be extended,” he said. In addition, it must be ensured that only affected clinics benefit. “It wasn’t like that at first.”
There should also be more support for nursing staff who are working at their limit. Bavaria’s Minister of Health Holetschek brought allowances or tax incentives into play so that more nurses do not leave their jobs: “We have to send out a signal immediately,” he said.
With agency material.
More: Compulsory PCR tests in restaurants, 3G rule at work: The pressure on unvaccinated people is growing