As of: March 25, 2024, 5:22 p.m
By: Andreas Schmid
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Exonerated Corona protocols from the Robert Koch Institute provide insights into decisions made during the pandemic.
The RKI refutes a major accusation, but some questions remain unanswered.
Just over four years ago, the Robert Koch Institute eked out a relatively unnoticed existence.
With the start of the corona pandemic, that changed suddenly.
The federal authority developed into one of the most important and influential Corona explainers.
Many political decisions - from mask rules to lockdowns - were also based on the RKI's scientific assessments.
The authority is subordinate to the Ministry of Health and worked closely with ministers Jens Spahn (CDU) and later Karl Lauterbach (SPD).
RKI on the Corona lockdown: “The risk assessment will be published as soon as ... there is a signal for it”
Especially at the beginning of the pandemic, the population and politics were overwhelmed and scientific findings on Covid-19 were scarce.
The political decisions do not always seem understandable in retrospect, which is why the question remains: How did the RKI come to its assessments?
More than 1,000 pages of internal RKI protocols that were previously kept secret now provide insights.
They suggest the following: At the beginning of the pandemic, assessments of what was happening with the coronavirus were also based on instructions from politicians.
Numerous redactions in the minutes of the RKI Corona Expert Council.
© Screenshots of the RKI protocols from February 21st, March 2nd and March 5th, 2020.
This was particularly noticeable in mid-March, when the federal government under Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) initiated the first major corona lockdown.
The massive restrictions on the population, such as the closure of schools and daycare centers or the strict contact and exit restrictions, came into force on March 22nd.
The lockdown was decided on March 16th.
The basis for all lockdown measures was the RKI risk classification from “moderate” to “high”.
At the RKI meeting on March 16th, the following was literally stated regarding risk classification: “A new risk assessment was prepared at the weekend.
It's scheduled to be scaled up this week.
The risk assessment will be published as soon as ... there is a signal for this." Explosive: The person's name is blacked out in the protocols.
“Risk assessment will be published as soon as ... there is a signal for this.” © Screenshot of the RKI protocol from March 16, 2020.
Corona protocols: RKI contradicts the accusation
The fact that the documents are public at all is the result of a legal dispute lasting years.
In May 2021, Multipolar
magazine submitted
a request under the Freedom of Information Act to inspect all documents from the RKI Corona crisis team.
The magazine concludes on the passage about the lockdown risk classification: “The tightening of the risk assessment from 'moderate' to 'high' - the basis of all lockdown measures and court rulings - was, contrary to what was previously believed, not based on an expert assessment by the RKI, but rather on the political direction of an external actor.”
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The Robert Koch Institute contradicts this statement when asked by our editorial team: “The person in question here is a person employed by the Robert Koch Institute.” However, some questions remain unanswered.
RKI protocols: Politicians were involved in the Corona assessments early on
But how did this risk assessment come about?
As recently as February 6th, the minutes stated that the “step-by-step assessment is based on scientific rationale (sic!) very important, also because of RKI credibility”.
A day later, the assessment states: “perspective additions in coordination with BMG”.
This refers to the Federal Ministry of Health, to which the RKI reports.
The health minister at the time was Jens Spahn (CDU).
Just a few days later, on February 10th, there was talk of a new text on risk assessment.
It is a proposal from the “Lage-AG” of the RKI.
There is then an addendum in the minutes: “To be discussed by the Minister in the Health Committee, deadline Wednesday.”
The risk classifications were an issue in the Bundestag from an early stage.
On February 24th, Health Minister Spahn expected that the virus would continue to spread in Germany.
“The situation in Italy also changes our assessment of the situation: Corona has arrived in Europe as an epidemic,” said Spahn at a press conference.
However, there is no mention of this in the RKI minutes in the days before Spahn's statement.
It is always said that there is no reason for risk adjustment.
Even on the day of Spahn's statements, the RKI said: "The risk decision for the German population remains 'low' for the time being."
However, there is a “discussion about the risk to the health of the population in Germany, low vs. moderate”, and it also says: “The possibility of escalation is necessary.”
In the next session a day later, part of it was blacked out.
At this point in time, the RKI assesses the danger for Germany as “low” on its website.
A day later that changed. In the RKI minutes from February 26th it says: "Homepage updated, now risk for the general population in Germany 'low to moderate', fits better with current assessment." At the beginning of March this classification changed again "moderate".
Incidentally, the RKI's assessment was completely blacked out on several days.
Screenshots of the RKI protocols from February 21, March 2 and March 5, 2020. How the Robert Koch Institute assesses the risk of the corona pandemic for the population remains unclear for several days.
© Screenshots of the RKI protocols from February 21st, March 2nd and March 5th, 2020.
RKI protocols: Spahn rushed to stop major events
At the beginning of March, the coronavirus was omnipresent in Germany.
On March 9th, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Federal Ministry of Health recommended the cancellation of all major events with more than 1,000 people.
On March 10th, the RKI said: “Mass events for vulnerable groups are not recommended.” There is no talk of a cancellation for everyone.
Instead of a “document on mass events”.
“It was also supplemented in this regard and should be discussed again with the BMG,” said the RKI.
The risk rating at this point is “moderate”.
On March 11th, only after the Minister of Health had announced the cancellation of major events, under the heading
population-based measures
it was stated : “Major events should generally be canceled, school closures in particularly affected areas, reactive school closures in areas that are not particularly affected are not recommended .”
This gives the impression that the Robert Koch Institute has partly adapted its assessments to those of the governing politicians.
At the same time, it should be noted that the situation in the weeks after the first cases was very dynamic and scientific findings were rare.
Information changed almost daily and the number of corona cases increased (also because significantly more tests were carried out).
On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) finally declared Covid-19 a pandemic.
This also had an impact on the classifications in Germany.
Although the RKI still classified the risk as “moderate” at this point in time.
“The risk assessment was supplemented by the information that the WHO has declared a pandemic,” it simply says.
RKI Corona protocols: Unclear position on school closings
School closures were also part of the big lockdown.
The RKI had different scientific findings on this.
On March 13th it was said on the one hand: “In analogy to influenza, school closures make sense.” On the other hand, the Corona Expert Council also writes: “It is unclear what the consequence will be if the schools now close for 4 weeks, if necessary Reopening to increased activity (both influenza and COVID-19, we saw this in 2009).”
The same document also states: “...has ordered that a passage on school closures be inserted into the criteria for risk assessment of major events.” Here, too, the crucial name is blacked out.
The RKI minutes from March 13, 2020: Who ordered that school closings be included in the criteria for risk assessments?
© Screenshot RKI minutes from March 13, 2020
On March 17, the RKI changed its risk rating from “moderate” to “high”.
The basis for the lockdown should also be officially available on the RKI website.
This is stated in the RKI protocol.
“In today's press briefing... informed about the changed risk assessment.
Due to the sharp increase in the number of cases, the health risk to the population is now classified as “high.” Here too, the key player is blacked out.
When asked again, the RKI does not want to comment on who this person is.
The federal authority is thus leaving crucial questions unanswered.
The Federal Ministry of Health is currently defending itself against the assumptions about external influence on a higher risk assessment by the Robert Koch Institute.
“The RKI is absolutely independent in its professional assessments of diseases,” said a spokeswoman on Monday.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach also said on Monday: “The RKI worked independently of political instructions.
The so-called blacked-out employee is an employee of the RKI.”
Corona protocols: How were the RKI’s decisions to combat the pandemic published?
The Robert Koch Institute had long refused to release the RKI protocols.
In April 2023, following Multipolar
's application, it submitted
the documents in a heavily redacted form.
A law firm commissioned by the RKI sent a 1,059-page letter justifying each of these redactions.
There is currently a lawsuit against the complete publication of the minutes.
Until then,
Multipolar
has published the redacted protocols.
They cover the period January 2020 to April 2021 and can be read here.
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