Immunologist on the corona situation: A high number of infections may pay off in autumn

Created: 03/27/2022, 04:54

By: Kathrin Reikowski

More than 20 million corona infections in Germany: According to the hospital association, “the pandemic is not over yet”.

The occupancy of intensive care beds is expected to increase.

• Corona virus in Germany: The incidence increases slightly to 1758.4.

  Due to the persistently high number of infections, the German hospital company expects an increase in intensive care bed occupancy.

  (see first report).

• Even if the mask requirement on buses and trains should fall “as soon as possible”, Minister of Transport Wissing sees “no mask ban” (

  see update from March 26, 9:26 a.m.).

• The immunologist Carsten Watzl sees infections with Omikron as a booster for vaccinated people (

  see update from March 26, 11:44 a.m.

  ).

• This

  news ticker on developments regarding the corona virus in Germany

  is updated regularly.

Corona in Germany: Lauterbach's hotspot regulation still has to be made "workable".

Update from March 26, 3:01 p.m

.: Disagreement over the coronavirus hotspot regulations by Health Minister Lauterbach (SPD): Whether the legal requirements for a hotspot regulation are in place is currently being discussed controversially in the federal states.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has already declared the entire country a hotspot by the end of April, and Hamburg has the same plans, although the city-state has the lowest incidence nationwide.

After a transition period until April 2nd, the federal states can only impose further restrictions with more mask requirements and access rules if the state parliament determines a critical situation for hotspots.

There are no threshold values ​​for when this should take effect.

Other states such as Baden-Württemberg and Lower Saxony, on the other hand, see no legal basis for a hotspot regulation at the moment, despite record numbers of new infections, although they would welcome the measures being retained.

Still others are against an extension of the protective measures.

This was the result of a survey by the German Press Agency in the 16 federal states.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach had called on the federal states to use the possibilities for corona containment.

© Kay Nietfeld/dpa

Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach says that an overload of the healthcare system that can be determined for the hotspot regulation can be measured against specific criteria - for example if planned operations have to be postponed or patients have to be transferred, said the SPD politician on Friday.

Lauterbach announced that at a conference of health ministers this Monday, talks would be held with the federal states about making the hotspot regulation workable.

Corona in Germany: omicron breakthrough infections increase immune protection according to immunologist Watzl

Update from March 26, 11:44 a.m

.: "An infection is like a single dose of vaccine," says immunologist Carsten on Saturday about infections with the omicron variant.

"For vaccinated people, it acts like a booster with an adapted vaccine." According to the Secretary General of the German Society for Immunology, the current high number of infections and the associated immune protection can pay off in the autumn - "if no new, more dangerous variant comes along".

Carsten Watzl, Secretary General of the German Society for Immunology (DGfI), is standing in a laboratory.

© Leibniz Institute for Labor Research at the TU Dortmund (IfADo)/dpa/archive image

Corona in Germany: Watzl calls the mandatory vaccination debate the $100,000 question

“The $100,000 question is whether compulsory vaccination is still necessary in view of this,” said Watzl.

“The pessimistic scenario would be a virus variant that is as sick as Delta and as contagious as Omicron.

Then we would have a big problem again with the large number of unvaccinated people.” If Omikron remains the predominant variant, one can probably get through the cold season comparatively well even without compulsory vaccination.

For those who have not been vaccinated, even a previous omicron infection does not provide any reasonable protection against a serious illness with another virus variant.

“This raises the question of compulsory vaccination as a precautionary measure.

As an immunologist, I am of course always in favor of vaccination because it has been shown to be safer than infection.”

Corona in Germany: Drosten does not expect an “infection-free summer”

Update from March 26, 10:58 a.m

.: The virologist Christian Drosten gives a different forecast for this summer than for the summer of 2021. "Even if it gets warmer, the infection process will not stop completely like last year," said Drosten on Friday evening in the ARD.

He expects the number of infections in Germany to continue to be high in the “very near future” and said: “I guess that will increase again in the summer.” In his estimation, there will not be an infection-free summer like last year.

He also warned: “The virus has not become absolutely harmless.

You just have to moderate the situation and not let it run free.” A bigger problem at the moment is that many older people are becoming increasingly infected – “in this group we vaccinated poorly”.

Drosten advised "tougher action" again when winter approaches.

"You inevitably have to counter-regulate again, otherwise social life will no longer work," because too many people are unable to work because of an infection, said the expert.

He recommended that the older population in particular be immunized “in the fall”.

Corona in Germany: No “mask ban” on buses and trains

Update from March 26, 9:26 a.m

.: Mask on the bus and train against the corona virus – this measure could possibly be withdrawn in Germany soon, which triggers a heated debate.

“As soon as possible” the mask requirement should fall, said Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP).

The FDP wants to rely on more personal responsibility as the pandemic progresses.

According to Wissing, caution is also part of this: "I still think a lot about wearing the masks on the bus and train." The lifting of the mask requirement does not mean a mask ban.

Volker Wissing, Federal Minister for Transport and Digital Affairs.

© Kay Nietfeld/dpa/archive image

Corona: criticism of Lauterbach from the opposition

Criticism of the traffic light mask plans comes from the opposition: The deputy chairman of the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Sepp Müller, criticized the federal government sharply: "Now largely dispensing with the low-threshold - but effective - measure of the mask requirement is insane," said he.

“The Minister responsible, Karl Lauterbach, bears sole responsibility for these abuses,” said Müller.

What the Union had warned about has now happened: “We are seeing the healthcare system being overloaded, not because of the burden of disease, but because the staff has to be quarantined in rows.” It is unspeakable that after two years of the pandemic, operations would have to be postponed again.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach had called on the federal states to use the possibilities for corona containment.

© Kay Nietfeld/dpa

Corona in Germany: More than 20 million infections detected since the beginning of the pandemic

First report from March 26, 2022, 9:17 a.m

.: Munich – More than 20 million have already been proven to be infected with the corona virus * in Germany.

According to the RKI*, the total number on Saturday morning (March 26) was 20,145,054, although the actual value is likely to be higher due to unrecorded infections*.

The RKI gave the incidence as 1758.4.

The incidences in comparison:

• Current: 1758.4

• Previous day: 1756.4

• Previous week: 1735.0

• Previous month: 1253.3

Within one day, 252,026 people were newly infected with the corona virus, this value was 260,239 a week ago.

The number of deaths has increased: According to the new information, 278 deaths were recorded within 24 hours across Germany.

A week ago there were 221 deaths.

Corona in Germany: Current figures on corona infected people in the clinics

The number of corona-infected patients who came to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days was 7.39 on Friday (Thursday: 7.28).

Among them are many people with a positive corona test who have another main illness.

The RKI gave the number of recovered people on Saturday as 15,646,000.

The number of people who died from or involved a proven infection with Sars-CoV-2 rose to 128,388.

Corona in Germany: Meetings in the fresh air are safer in the pandemic - sunset at the Hackerbrücke in Munich © Sven Hoppe/dpa

High corona infections: German hospital society expects an increasing number of intensive care patients

The German Hospital Society (DKG) expects the number of intensive care patients to increase again due to the current high number of corona infections.

The situation for clinics is particularly problematic due to staff shortages, said DKG CEO Gerald Gass to the

“Three out of four hospitals have to limit services because staff are absent.” This is due to “infections, quarantine or care for children who have tested positive”.

A nurse walks across the hall in an intensive care unit.

© Fabian Strauch/dpa/symbol image

Recently, the intensive care occupancy has decoupled somewhat from the infection process - but not completely, said Gass.

In the coming weeks, the hospitals would therefore also “record a stronger increase in the number of patients in the intensive care units”.

The overall situation makes it clear "that the corona pandemic is far from over," emphasized Gass.

*