How do you feel with the incidence?
The question has been wafting through the debate room of virologists and epidemiologists, politicians and health officials for a long time: Is the so-called
incidence number
, which indicates how many people were newly infected with the coronavirus within seven days, still the measure of all things? Should they alone decide where we have to wear masks and keep our distance, where concerts and folk festivals are allowed? Or, since more and more people are vaccinated and the number of serious illnesses has decreased, aren't other factors decisive, such as the number of corona-related hospital admissions?
The federal government wants to reconsider its benchmark
, it was said in Berlin yesterday, at the same time the incidence should continue to play a not insignificant role.
Angela Merkel will certainly be discussing which criteria will decide about restriction or freedom in the future when she visits the Robert Koch Institute and its President Lothar Wieler with Jens Spahn.
Calling a man who always has an informed opinion on such questions.
He considers the debate to be
»window dressing«
, says Karl Lauterbach, the SPD health expert, who has been reading epidemiological studies in his spare time for 35 years, as he recently revealed to us in a SPIEGEL conversation.
Factors such as hospitalization have long been taken into account when assessing the pandemic situation.
Lauterbach suspects that a completely different debate is deliberately being started behind the question of the new benchmark: Should the incidence number no longer play a role, as is the case in Great Britain?
Should
all restrictions fall
soon
, even if the numbers rise to a fourth wave?
Lauterbach warns against this step because the long-term consequences of Covid 19 disease are still not foreseeable and also because dangerous disease courses can occur among the unvaccinated.
It would be the end of the effort to keep the pandemic under control.
It would be the
beginning of a contamination of
those populations who are not yet fully vaccinated - such as children or those who for whatever reason do not want to be vaccinated.
Contagion, what a terrible word.
But apt for this process.
I think it is good that the debate is now starting, which we absolutely must have when everyone who wants to has been vaccinated twice.
Then we have to ask ourselves who society still has to protect - or whether Covid-19, like most diseases, will then be part of personal life risk.
The answer is not easy, especially when the children have no choice.
The epidemiologist André Karch on the meaning of the incidence number, the danger posed by parties and Long-Covid in boys: You can read the interview here
The boys riot
The
Junge Union
, with nearly 100,000 members of the
politically largest youth organization
in Germany - and also one of the most conservative.
Friedrich Merz is still a swarmed idol among the party’s youngsters, and JU boss Tilman Kuban can be seen as a real pain in the ass, from the Chancellor’s point of view, of course.
The fact that not all young CDU members feel so comfortable in this environment is no great realization.
But if they start their own network, that's news.
Today the
CDU Future Council
is in the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus in Berlin
who sets a clear programmatic counterpoint against the JU. "Our motivation, as young democrats, is to represent the interests of future generations vis-à-vis the CDU federal executive board," wrote Rosa Schneider, one of the co-founders. »The recently uncovered cases of corruption within the Union have shown the unhealthy economic entanglement of the CDU and have led to political alienation and a loss of confidence on the part of voters. The lack of representation of the younger generation in the party leadership is also currently leading to the costs of political decisions being passed on to the next generations to an inadmissible extent, as the Federal Constitutional Court recently confirmed. "
The group still cannot or does not want to say how many members it has, nor is it at the very beginning.
But their representatives are not lacking in self-confidence.
One wants to make it clear, writes Schneider, "that the existing intergenerational contract is no longer working under current developments such as demographic change and accelerating global warming." the future council cold and hard:
"Our conclusion is that the government program of the CDU is not sustainable."
Portrait of a conservative young star and loudspeaker: Read here what drives the Hamburg CDU boss Christoph Ploß
Soldiers in space
Yesterday the topic of space was in this "situation", it was about the hotly
contested market for private trips
to the infinite vastness. Three rich men face this battle, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Virgin founder Richard Branson, and Tesla founder Elon Musk. It's a strange race between the alpha animals.
Today we are devoting ourselves to the
military use of space
, which, too, does not bode well. French President Emmanuel Macron set the tone back in July 2019 when he announced a change in military doctrine that would enable the country to "defend itself in space and from space." Macron spoke of a “new area of confrontation”; he was evidently interested in war in space, not in peaceful coexistence. Months earlier, the then US President Donald Trump had ordered the formation of a separate space command, which was to form a sixth military force. And China and Russia have already been active for a long time in the question of how infinity outside the earthly atmosphere can be used to expand earthly power.
Today
the Bundeswehr's
space
command is also
starting its service in Kalkar on the Lower Rhine. In the small community of Uedem (North Rhine-Westphalia), NATO already operates the "command post" which monitors part of NATO airspace and would always send ready interceptors in the event of a terrorist threat.
There, in Uedem, space is already being monitored, and so far it has essentially been about warning of space junk in good time, says my colleague Konstantin von Hammerstein.
If the area is to be expanded into its own space command, then it is not about attack, but above all about surveillance.
Both the scrap and, in the future, the activities of countries such as China, India or Russia, which now have the ability to shoot down foreign satellites, for example.
Everything passive, everything just defense, of course the Bundeswehr does not want to see itself as an extraterrestrial war party.
Read the details of Emmanuel Macron's space command here
Loser of the day ...
... is
Miguel Díaz-Canel
, the President of Cuba.
It is a sign of weakness when dark forces are used for developments in one's own country.
It is the Americans who are responsible for the protests on Cuba's streets, said Díaz-Canel yesterday.
CIA instead of citizen frustration.
In fact, surprisingly, a mixture of frustration over the encrusted system, the miserable economic situation and the government's corona management has erupted in the real socialist state.
It is not yet clear whether it is just a brief flare-up of the protests - or the beginning of the end of Miguel Díaz-Canel and his regime.
The latest news from the night
Suspect in the Haiti murder had connections to the US drug authorities:
In the Moïse murder case, the connection to the USA is becoming increasingly clear: at least one of the allegedly involved previously worked as a DEA informant.
A US broadcaster also reports on possible contacts with the FBI
"Completely indecent to place such an ad":
A young woman is lying in a hospital bed, is being ventilated and gasping for breath in panic: A new clip is intended to encourage people, especially in Sydney, to get the Covid vaccination.
Instead, there is great outrage
Tumult in parliament after the death of a cameraman during an anti-LGBTQ demonstration:
a journalist was beaten up
in an anti-
gay demonstration in Georgia - and later died.
There were now protests in parliament against Prime Minister Garibashvili.
It got palpable
The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today
Ambitious climate plans of the US government: where is Biden's big hit?
More solar systems, reforestation, e-car offensive: for China's government, green policy is a question of power
The pandemic and us: a life of permanent farewell
Cartel office is targeting clubs: These rules are intended to make the Bundesliga fairer
"Fast & Furious 9" with Vin Diesel: This action film is like a musical for car races
Have a nice day.
Your Martin Knobbe