500 corona deaths a day?
Lauterbach comes under sharp criticism with a ZDF statement – “Becomes Minister of Fear”
Created: 02/10/2022 11:48 am
By: Stephanie Munk
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) gave an interview in the ZDF Today Journal that caused a stir.
© Screenshot ZDF
If Germany significantly relaxes its corona measures, there is a risk of up to 500 deaths a day, Health Minister Lauterbach warned on ZDF.
Now criticism is pouring down - even from the German Ethics Council.
Berlin – Health Minister Karl Lauterbach had to take a lot of criticism for a statement on Tuesday evening on ZDF.
The SPD politician was asked by moderator Marietta Slomka about far-reaching corona easing in Israel - whether this could not be a role model for Germany?
Lauterbach then said that he had “calculated it” and that there would be “a rate of 400 to 500 people who would die in Germany every day if we were to make these openings like this”.
"I just can't imagine that we would be in such a situation," said the Minister of Health.
The Robert Koch Institute reported 272 deaths on
Wednesday (
February 9 ), and 177 on Tuesday.
Lauterbach "calculated it" - this formulation raises questions in retrospect: Is it a private bill from the minister or official data and models?
When asked by
ZDFheute.de
, the Federal Ministry of Health and the Robert Koch Institute did not want to provide any information on which exact data and assumptions the minister's calculations were based on.
Criticism of Lauterbach's Corona forecast: "Threat scenarios out of the blue"
Ethics Council member Stephan Rixen therefore clearly criticizes Lauterbach's statement: "Threat scenarios in the dark cannot justify restrictions on fundamental rights," he told the
ZDFheute.de portal.
"Interferences with fundamental rights must be based on comprehensible forecasts of the further development of the pandemic.
If it is not clear how the number of people who probably die because of easing came about, then it is also not clear why restrictions on freedom should continue to
be
necessary a "minister of fear".
Lauterbach on Corona deaths: Under these circumstances, the threat could come true
Thorsten Lehr, head of the Covid-19 simulator at Saarland University, told
ZDFheute.de
that 500 corona deaths per day are possible under certain conditions: "According to our simulations, 400 to 500 deaths per day are in 7 days - Cut possible if the peak incidences are over 3,500 to 4,000.” According to the RKI, the incidence is currently around 1,450, and the trend is rising.
Israel has largely relaxed restrictions in view of the milder omicron variant of the corona virus, but is now facing a problem: the hospitals are suddenly full of seriously ill patients again.
In order to prevent deaths and severe corona courses, the corona vaccination is to be compulsory in Germany - but some federal states are giving up.
Above all, Bavaria's Prime Minister Söder hits hooks and receives harsh scolding from the federal government.
(
dpa/smu)
