"Greetings, Karl": Lauterbach surprises with a saying - Health Minister has an unusual New Year's Eve message

Created: 01/01/2022, 1:27 PM

From: Bettina Menzel

Karl Lauterbach (SPD), Federal Minister of Health, was connected to the ZDF New Year's Eve broadcast at the Brandenburg Gate by video.

© picture alliance / dpa |

Christophe Gateau

Karl Lauterbach reports on Twitter with a self-deprecating New Year's Eve greeting.

He has good news for 2022 and finally sees “light at the end of the tunnel”.

Berlin - The new Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD), known as a perpetual warning, ushered in the year 2022 with good news: According to initial studies, the Omikron variant is more contagious, but it causes significantly less severe progress, he said on the ZDF New Year's Eve show.

The politician spoke self-deprecatingly on Twitter.

Lauterbach on Twitter: “Don't overdo it.

I see you!"

The doctor and health economist Karl Lauterbach, as an expert in epidemiology, became one of the explainers of the pandemic. Instead of making promises, the scientist referred to facts and repeatedly called for caution during the Corona crisis. In the pandemic, that wasn't always what people wanted to hear. He seems to be well aware of his reputation, because on New Year's Eve he turned self-deprecatingly to people in Germany on Twitter.

"I wish you a nice last evening in 2021 and appeal to everyone to be careful one last time." To this end, he self-ironically shares a net find with the words: “Don't overdo it.

I see you.

Greetings, Karl ”and a photo montage in which Lauterbach looks quite critically through a window decorated for Christmas into the symbolic living room of the Germans.

Lauterbach with good news for 2022: "Light at the end of the tunnel"

Some politicians are chalked up for beautiful painting, Lauterbach, on the other hand, is considered cautious - his critics find it overcautious. The scientist only gives an assessment when there is sufficient data, as was the case with Omikron. The health minister repeatedly pointed out that it was not possible to give the all-clear too quickly. The good news for the year 2022 is all the more important. In the ZDF New Year's Eve show, the politician was switched on via video and was cautiously optimistic about the new year.

According to the latest studies, Omikron is much more contagious than the previously dominant Delta variant, but Omikron causes significantly less severe courses. There is light at the end of the tunnel, said the politician. "It looks like this variant would be a little less dangerous than the Delta variant," said Lauterbach. According to this, Omikron attacks the lungs less strongly. The corona pandemic could therefore develop into an endemic in 2022, in which the number of diseases remains relatively constant and the health systems are therefore not overloaded. That is an opportunity, not a certainty. “I do believe that we can live with the corona virus. That we can get our normal life back completely, ”said Lauterbach. Until then, however, Omikron will still be a difficult challenge,warned the politician. At the same time, the health minister continued to call for vaccinations, because it was not yet clear how Omikron would affect people who have not been vaccinated.