Everyone longs for the end of the corona pandemic.
The worst may still follow: A researcher gives an outlook on the next phase and Covid-22.
Munich - doesn't it sound like a dream?
After a large piece of normality from the time before Sars-CoV-2?
On the first day of the new TV broadcaster
Bild
, Armin Laschet let himself be carried away when asked to promise that there would be no further lockdown under him as Chancellor.
It is possible that the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia intentionally leaned a little far out of the window.
After all, the election campaign and the chancellor candidate of the CDU and CSU is motivated to fight for votes since his joint appearance with Angela Merkel and Markus Söder in front of party friends at the weekend.
In election campaign mode, a lot is drawn more positively, so part of the truth has to take a back seat.
Researcher warns of Covid-22: No real certainty about the further development of the pandemic
Because of course it is also the case in the second Corona summer that nobody can reliably predict the near and distant future, which capers the pandemic will bring.
There is simply no guarantee of future developments.
Sai Reddy, for example, paints
a gloomy picture
in an interview with the Swiss tabloid
Blick
.
The researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich expects “six very tough months” in autumn and winter.
The summer of 2021 felt like the one in 2019. But the coming autumn and winter will be like last year. ”He cites the very contagious Delta variant and the insufficient vaccination rate as reasons.
Researcher warns of Covid-22: "Everyone who has not been vaccinated can become a superspreader through Delta"
Now the immunologist is referring to Swiss data and in our neighboring country and Liechtenstein - the data are summarized - only just under 51 percent of the population are officially immunized.
For Germany, this value is now given as 59 percent.
But even that, according to experts, is far too small to be able to master the mutation that was first discovered in India.
Reddy emphasizes: “The latest data show: The viral load of Delta is so high that anyone who has not been vaccinated and who is infected with the variant can be a super spreader.” In the worst case, infecting dozens of people.
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Should not be vaccinated yet: Children under the age of twelve could now also be the focus of the pandemic.
© Uwe Anspach / dpa
Researcher warns of Covid-22: "With a new variant, we can no longer rely on the vaccination"
In doing so, he particularly focuses on the youngest, who should not be protected by vaccines at all because the data situation is too small.
Reddy is hoping for a "massive campaign" to vaccinate children up to the age of twelve - if the scientific evidence speaks for it.
But he also knows: Delta will not be the end of the flagpole, the next injection will definitely come.
"It is very likely that a new variant will emerge where we can no longer rely solely on the vaccination," explains Reddy: "That is why we have to prepare for several vaccinations over the next few years, which are constantly being adapted to new variants . "
Researcher warns of Covid-22: "Beta and gamma can partially evade antibodies"
The current situation with the corona mutations is as follows: The variants from South Africa and Brazil, which have since been renamed Beta and Gamma, have “developed escape mutations: You can sometimes avoid the antibodies.
Delta, on the other hand, is much more contagious, but has so far not developed any escape mutations. "
What will follow can already be seen: “It is the next phase of the pandemic when beta or gamma become more infectious or Delta develops escape mutations.
That will be the big problem for the coming year. ”A new sub-variant of Delta is already worrying experts *.
Video: More and more young people with severe corona courses in clinic
Researcher warns of Covid-22: "Could be worse than what we are experiencing now"
Reddy no longer speaks of Covid-19, but of Covid-21.
Whereby it should be explained: Covid is only the abbreviation for "Corona Virus Disease" - in German: Coronavirus disease.
The respective year follows as an appendix, the first cases of illness had already appeared in 2019.
The American fears: "Covid-22 could get even worse than what we are experiencing now."
Will it still be possible to keep full-bodied promises in the election campaign?
Probably not.
For good reason.
Therefore, statements that completely rule out lockdowns are unfortunately nothing more than the noise of the election campaign.
Researcher warns of Covid-22: "Maybe dancing with the virus for the rest of our lives"
But back to Reddy's new phase of the pandemic.
“If such a variant appears, we have to recognize it as early as possible and the vaccine manufacturers have to adapt the vaccine quickly,” the 40-year-old continues to place his hopes on the pharmaceutical companies: “The appearance of this new variant is the big risk.
We have to prepare for it. "
And how does it all end then?
Maybe never, Reddy guesses.
"The virus and our immune system are now closely linked - like two dancers: The immune system moves and the virus reacts," he explains the competition that is going on in our bodies: "We will dance with the virus for a long time.
Probably for years, maybe for the rest of our lives. ”
(Mg) * Merkur.de and 24vita.de are part of IPPEN.MEDIA