Doctor and politician Wolfgang Wodarg sees scaremongering in dealing with the corona virus. Now chief virologist Christian Drosten counters the criticism and finds clear words.
- The new type of corona virus is spreading more and more.
- However, there is a belief that the virus is not as bad as often claimed.
- Chief virologist Christian Drosten now contradicts this view in clear terms.
Berlin - The new type of corona virus * is spreading worldwide. Italy is the worst hit in Europe. But the virus is now spreading more and more in Austria and Germany. Bavaria * and now the Federal Republic have therefore already taken drastic measures that restrict public life in many areas.
Nevertheless, in some places there is still the view that the novel corona virus is not as bad as often claimed. A prominent supporter of this thesis is the doctor Wolfgang Wodarg. One of his YouTube videos is currently haunting the web. The prominent virologist Christian Drosten now reacts to Wodarg's theses - and becomes clear in the process.
Corona virus "nothing special"? Wodarg caused a sensation with theses
According to Wolfgang Wodarg - politician and pulmonologist - the novel corona virus is less dangerous than is widely reported . In interviews and above all a YouTube video, which is currently widely shared on social media, Wodarg describes the current reaction to the virus as a scaremongering . In his view, corona viruses have always existed.
Coronaviruses have also always been found in seven to 15 percent of people with flu symptoms. "So it is nothing special that there are new corona viruses now. But that doesn't mean that they are more dangerous than others, ”Wodarg said in an interview on the ZDF program“ Frontal21 ”.
In the current podcast episode @c_drosten clarifies about statements by Dr. Wolfang Wodarg on # SARSCoV2, which has been heavily discussed in the media in recent days. # COVID19 @NDRinfo https://t.co/DffthtBcpA
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (@ChariteBerlin) March 18, 2020Drosten reacts to coronavirus theses: "That's right" - but ...
In his daily podcast with the NDR, Christian Drosten *, head of virology at the Charité in Berlin, was confronted with the Wodargs theses and reacted clearly. First of all, Drosten confirms some figures that Wodarg gives: “That's right, there are of course four coronaviruses in the human population. They occur seasonally, especially when the flu is on. And the frequency is roughly right, ”said Drosten in the NDR. But: "They have nothing to do with the new corona virus".
What is new, according to Drosten, is that the new type of corona virus is now approaching us as a pandemic *, meaning that there are many infections at the same time . In addition, the course of the disease in the new virus is different from that in the previous corona viruses. Then Drosten goes into another Wodarg thesis. After that, the death rate * from the new virus would not be noticed in the general overall mortality rate of the population if one did not search for it specifically. There are too few for that.
Corona death rate - Drosten: "But you can't compare it all"
Drosten also agrees on this point at the present time. In comparison to the overall mortality rate, the dead would hardly be of any importance due to the new corona virus. But Drosten says clearly: "But you can't compare all of that". In addition, this picture will change soon.
In Germany, Drosten is currently on the rising side of the infection curve, who explains further: "If we do nothing now - drastically and drastically - then it will go on and we have a problem in June or July. Then we have an effect on lethality, i.e. the number of people who die anyway. And you will not only see this in the statistics, but you will see it in the hospitals. These patients will then no longer be able to be treated and they will die. That is now the case in Italy. "
In addition, several people have now died of the new corona virus within a few weeks. The overall mortality rate usually refers to one year, that is, to a much longer period. That is why it is so difficult to compare the numbers.
Wodarg's view that the new corona virus is not so bad describes Drosten as a “displacement mechanism” and continues: “There are of course different ways of dealing with this situation. One is now to make steep theses public and say: none of this exists at all ”.
In general, Drosten says that Germany is now on the right track in dealing with the virus. However, he also says: “Many have not yet understood this . You can still see a lot of people handling it fairly carelessly. ”He sees people in the middle of Berlin and sitting in the bars. The virologist says: "This should stop now".
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* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.
List of rubric lists: © dpa / Christophe Gateau