The incidence is rising by leaps and bounds - Streeck is promoting a new way of dealing with corona

Created: 01/11/2022, 05:14 AM

By: Bettina Menzel, Patrick Huljina, Franziska Schwarz

The 7-day incidence in Germany is again as high as it was before Christmas.

The virologist Streeck advocates getting out of the "permanent alarm state".

The news ticker.

• The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) * reported a significantly increased incidence at the beginning of the week.

  (see first report)

• Health Minister Lauterbach (SPD *) considers further measures to be necessary because of Omikron.

  (see first report)

• Proof of the recovered status should in future only be possible in digital form via a QR code

  (see update from January 10th, 8.30 p.m.).

• This news ticker on Corona * in Germany * is continuously updated.

Update from January 10th, 8:30 p.m.:

The falsification of 2G evidence should be put a stop to.

Proof of recovery should therefore only be available in digital form via a QR code in the future.

In a virtual conference on Monday, the federal and state health ministers agreed on this new regulation.

Anyone who has a positive PCR test result that must not be older than six months is considered to have recovered.

The recovered status applies no earlier than 28 days after the positive test.

“Up to now, it has generally not been possible to check proof of recovery in the form of a simple printout.

With the digitally readable proof, a forgery is made much more difficult here, ”said the chairwoman of the conference, Saxony-Anhalt's Minister of Health Petra Grimm-Benne (SPD), as reported by the AFP news agency.

Shortage of nursing staff: Twelve percent of the positions in intensive care units are vacant

Update from January 10, 4 p.m.:

The shortage of nurses in hospitals has worsened in the past year.

In the normal wards, six percent of the positions and in the intensive care units twelve percent of the positions remained vacant, said the chairman of the German Hospital Society (DKG), Gerald Gass, the newspapers of the

.

"This is a very difficult situation, especially in times of continuously high stress," said Gaß.

Corona in Germany: shortage of nursing staff continues to increase

"We have practically no reserves to compensate for staff shortages," said the DKG boss.

That is why some of the intensive capacities had to be canceled temporarily or permanently during the pandemic.

The shortage of staff has worsened for various reasons: The baby boomers went into retirement or early retirement, explained Gass.

In addition, many caregivers stayed longer on parental leave and then longer part-time.

While there is a lack of doctors in rural areas, nurses are more likely to move from the cities to the rural areas because of high rents.

The nurses also quit their jobs because of excessive workload, which in turn leads to a higher burden for the other employees, explained Gass.

Corona in Germany: Students in all federal states are back in class

Update from January 10, 2:55 p.m.:

After the Christmas break, school started again this Monday in eight federal states. There were special precautions because of the corona pandemic and Omikron. In North Rhine-Westphalia all pupils, teachers and other employees at the schools were tested on the first day after the holidays. In Bavaria, vaccinated and recovered pupils also have to test themselves regularly. In Baden-Wuerttemberg, tests are also being carried out more intensely in schools for six weeks.

School lessons began again in Schleswig-Holstein, Hesse, Saxony-Anhalt, Lower Saxony and Bremen.

In the eight other federal states, lessons had already started in the past few days.

The culture ministers responsible for education of the federal states confirmed their line last Wednesday (January 5th) that schools should also be kept open in the current Corona situation.

Germany: Incidence is skyrocketing - Streeck is promoting a new way of dealing with Corona

First report from January 10th:

Berlin - The incidence jump is big: The RKI reported a nationwide 7-day incidence of 375.5 on Monday morning.

A week ago it was 232.4.

The value is again as high as it was last before Christmas.

Furthermore, 52 new deaths from or with Corona were counted within one day.

The new infections during the period amounted to 25,255.

The Bonn virologist Hendrik Streeck meanwhile campaigned for a “pragmatic approach” to the pandemic, “in order to learn to live with the virus”.

"On the other hand, the permanent alarm condition is tiring and unsuccessful," he told the

newspaper on Monday.

However, Streeck warned that the exposure in the hospitals "should continue to be monitored carefully and, if necessary, respond with measures".

This also includes “validly recording the hospitalization incidence”.

The hospitalization incidence indicates how many people per 100,000 inhabitants are in hospital within a week because of a corona infection.

According to the latest RKI report (Friday), it is 3.15 nationwide.

It is considered the decisive benchmark for tightening corona measures.

Lauterbach to Omikron in Germany: Further measures necessary

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, however, expects that further measures will be necessary in the fight against the Omikron variant.

The SPD politician described the “2G-plus” in gastronomy and the new quarantine rules as successes on Sunday evening in the ARD program “Report from Berlin”.

"I do think that will help us."

He added, however, that that would not be enough to defeat Omikron.

“I think the number of cases will increase.

Therefore, further action will be necessary in due course.

But that is now a very important step forward. "

The federal and state governments agreed on a 2G-plus regulation for restaurants, cafés and pubs on Friday: access only for those who have been vaccinated / recovered with a negative test and people with a booster vaccination.