Corona traffic light or contact restriction? Drosten and Streeck: The strategies of Germany's top virologists

Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, many people have trusted the advice of the two top virologists Christian Drosten and Hendrik Streeck.

The two experts do not always agree, however.

• The two top virologists

  Christian Drosten

  and

  Hendrik Streeck use

  different strategies

  when dealing with the

  corona pandemic *

  .

• Streeck

  criticized, among other things, the

  lockdown

  in the spring of this year.

• Drosten

  appeals to the

  responsibility

  of the population, in order to reduce infection levels.

Munich - The weather is getting worse, the leaves are falling from the trees, it is gradually becoming autumn in

.

You can also tell from the number of

in the country,

which is increasing every day

.

This development was

to be expected

for

and also for the upcoming

.

All experts agreed on this, including the two

and

.

However, their strategies differ in dealing with the pandemic and evaluating the numbers.

Corona: Different strategies of the top virologists Drosten and Streeck

The two researchers * are among the most famous faces of the

and are probably the best-known virologists in

.

, who now warned of a dangerous chain reaction,

is head of the Institute for Virology at the

.

He

was awarded the

Merit

for his work and his explanations on the subject of

, including in his regularly published NDR podcast

.

has been director of the Institute for Virology and HIV Research at the Medical Faculty of the

since October 2019

.

Together with the

district, he examined

Germany's

first

.

Corona in Germany: Streeck criticizes lockdown in spring

In their views and strategies in dealing with the

the two virologists do not always agree.

This is also not the case with the subject of

.

In June,

criticized

the

in Germany.

After the ban on

, a decrease in the number of infections was already evident.

"

I would have made

further measures such as

restrictions dependent on the actual course, also to see how the individual restrictions work and whether additional steps are really necessary," explained

.

addition to concerns about the capacities of the hospitals and because of a certain amount of public pressure, Germany “went into

too quickly

,” said the virologist.

Corona: Drosten counters Streeck's statements on the subject of lockdown

Drosten,

on the other hand, did not agree with the statements of his

.

In his podcast, he indirectly distanced himself from

statements by reporting on a study according to which

more than

in

could have died

by early May

without the

.

thus contradicted the statement that a

might not have been necessary to this extent.

Instead of "what is different in southern Europe?"

one can also ask: "what is different with us?"

One of the best answers: earlier lockdown because the first wave was noticed in the laboratory, not only in the intensive care unit.

Germany still benefits from this today.

https://t.co/3ZWO7iXBtq

- Christian Drosten (@c_drosten) September 7, 2020

Dealing with the corona pandemic: Drosten appeals to personal responsibility

The

two virologists also have different strategies

for dealing with the

in the upcoming cold season.

appeals to the

population

to take

.

At the federal press conference on Friday, he called on people to continue

wearing

and to take targeted action against

.

Everyone should keep a

.

In the event of an infection, the

can be tracked better and further infections can be avoided, the virologist explained.

In an interview with Die

made himself

also for

strong.

For the upcoming

and

made the suggestion of a "

" before visiting risk groups.

"So that people avoid social contact as much as possible with grandma and grandpa a few days, ideally a week, before visiting their families,"

explained

his idea.

Corona in Germany: Streeck is in favor of a traffic light system

Streeck,

on the other hand, emphasized in an interview with

that the increasing number of

in

and

nothing negative as long as

the

are primarily mild and asymptomatic.

You should

look

to evaluate the infection rate.

After all, the

not dangerous for most people, but only for a few, reported

.

"It has to be about how much society is burdened with an illness - and the mere number of infections does not necessarily say anything about that," explained the expert.

We see similar behavior in many European countries.

Increase in the number of infections but no increase in the death rate.

Probably multi-factorial reasons: but shows in my opinion that infection numbers alone should not be decisive at the moment.

fig credit: @ChGefaell pic.twitter.com/IBf30Tk95c

- Hendrik Streeck (@hendrikstreeck) August 30, 2020

Therefore,

advocates a

to evaluate the

.

This should represent a guide value from the number of infections, number of tests, as well as inpatient and intensive care occupancy.

Further measures, such as

restrictions, would only have to be adopted if this traffic light turned yellow.

"If we act on it, then we have a good chance of getting through the winter well," said

.

Drosten and Streeck: Unity in the demand for pragmatic solutions

However, there is one thing that the two top virologists have in common: they are calling for

for the coming period.

Only in this way is a new kind of normality possible at some point.

One possible solution is

.

Although they are less sensitive than

, they are much cheaper and especially faster.

“You deliver a result within minutes,” explained

.

The virologist recommends the use of these tests, for example in

.

"Visitors could test themselves shortly before their visit, those affected and employees also at regular intervals," he suggests.

Drosten also

spoke out in favor of using

.

However, these would probably no longer be available before a potentially high increase in

in

.

"A cautious estimate could be, if things go really well: in December," said the virologist.

In addition

, the

a patient should also be tested

with the help of the

.

The

can be used to determine how contagious a person is, said

.

This allows you to derive the decay time and estimate how long a

person infected

with

would have to go

into

, the expert explained in his podcast.

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