Timo Lenzen / DER SPIEGEL
Dear readers,
"What was that for a shitty timing," a friend recently wrote to me with a view to the first Corona shutdown in March 2020. After she became a mother, she had just regained her first freedoms - then everything was closed.
"I can feel a physical reaction now," she writes and continues: "I think Corona has to stop slowly now."
The longing is great in many people.
But even in this fourth wave there are worlds between desire and reality.
Politics and society have not succeeded in bringing the vaccination quota above the critical threshold of around 85 percent before autumn.
We can still get around at less than 70 percent.
"Even if it doesn't sound like much, the difference is huge," said Dirk Brockmann, physicist and professor at the Institute for Biology at Humboldt University in Berlin, in an interview with SPIEGEL this week.
“It's like when an ice sheet gets too thin.
A few millimeters are enough and it no longer carries. "
Experts already talked their mouths up in the summer. Christian Drosten, virologist at the Charité in Berlin, emphasized again and again that the highest possible vaccination rate by autumn would be decisive for the further course. But in view of the increasing freedom and the quiet situation in the clinics in the summer, hardly anyone wanted to believe him.
One could almost think that we are at the beginning again.
People are surprised by the massive increases in numbers in winter.
What is happening is exactly what experts have been trying to convey since the beginning of the pandemic: exponential growth.
What is difficult for our brain to grasp in theory is now becoming clear in practice: just two weeks ago, an average of 23,000 people in Germany were verifiably infected with the virus in seven days, today the value is almost 44,000.
All of this costs several hundred lives every day - also and above all because the number of people who have not been vaccinated is so large.
Weeks pass before countermeasures affect the situation in the clinics.
Instead of Corona stopping, it is currently spreading more strongly than ever in this country.
“› We're already in the middle of the next nightmare ‹- When lifeguards can no longer: Reports from the Corona Front,” is the title of the new SPIEGEL. You will receive the digital version from now on and from Saturday at the kiosk.
The critical situation in the hospitals
Health system on the verge of collapse: "We already have a kind of triage"
Corona brings clinic employees to the limit.
What does that mean in concrete terms?
In an interview, a team from a Munich clinic speaks about the desperation: All the measures taken now would come too late.
Incendiary speech by RKI boss Wieler on the corona situation: "There is an emergency in our country"
RKI boss Wieler describes the corona
situation in
dramatic words.
The intensive care units are full and the number of infections is rising dramatically.
A reckoning with the hesitation and hesitation of politics.
Intensive care physicians report from their clinics: "A patient has the struggle for oxygen or death"
Thousands of Covid sufferers occupy intensive care beds in German clinics.
And there are more.
Three intensive care physicians explain what makes the problem so big - and which form of triage must be used now.
Shortage of staff in clinics: Why there are now no beds in the intensive care units
In many hospitals, the situation is worsening.
FDP politician Wolfgang Kubicki therefore suggests activating the emergency reserve in the intensive care beds.
But it's not that easy.
Third vaccination for (almost) everyone
Third vaccination against corona: it won't work without the booster for everyone
Germany is heading into the corona catastrophe.
The third vaccination for everyone could alleviate the looming misery.
The vaccine is there - but the will to administer it is lacking.
Scientists on the sense of the booster: "The immunization is not complete after the second vaccination"
In Israel, the vaccination status expires after six months, Austria proceeds in a similar way.
Researcher Carsten Watzl explains whether such a regulation would also make sense in Germany - and who is affected by it.
Coronavirus: Stiko recommends third vaccination for everyone over the age of 18
According to Stiko,
all
people over the age of 18 should be offered a third vaccination against the coronavirus.
The booster should take place six months after the last vaccination, but a shortening is possible.
Boosters for everyone over 18: What you need to know about
third-party vaccinations The number of infections is rising rapidly, but only 4.8 million people in Germany have been vaccinated three times.
Stiko now recommends the booster for all adults.
Important questions and answers.
Policy measures - and what experts think of them
Corona in winter: "2G will not be enough"
The incidence is climbing relentlessly.
Modeler Dirk Brockmann outlines how things could continue and explains whether we need a shutdown.
He sees a catastrophe rolling towards society.
Corona pandemic: Drosten dampens expectations of the 3G rule in buses and
trains. Only vaccinated, convalescent or tested people should be transported in local public transport: With this measure, politicians want to reduce the number of infections again.
The virologist Christian Drosten is skeptical.
What experts think of the new corona measures: "That will not be enough"
At the provisional peak of the pandemic, of
all things
, regulations are to expire and a new catalog of measures will prevent the worst.
But for many experts this is not enough - they suggest alternatives.
Covid-19 in worldwide numbers
Confirmed Cases: 256,209,677
Deaths: 5,135,227
Germany: 5,248,291 confirmed sick people, 98,739 deaths
Sources: CSSE / Johns Hopkins University, as of November 19, 2021, 11:21 am;
Robert Koch Institute, as of November 19, 2021, 3.12 a.m.
Research news
Spread to neighboring countries: This is how Sweden exported the virus with its corona policy
The corona measures in Sweden were largely more lax than in neighboring countries.
A study now shows how this affected the region.
Coronavirus: Delta subtype responsible for more than every tenth new infection in Great Britain
In Great Britain the proportion of the delta sub-variant AY.4.2 is increasing, symptomatic courses may be less common.
In this country, the subtype hardly plays a role.
What else was important
For reading and forwarding: Why should I get vaccinated?
You are neither a lateral thinker nor an opponent of vaccinations - but still unsure whether and why you should be vaccinated?
Then this text is for you.
Studying in the pandemic: The crux of
face-to-face
teaching
At most universities in Germany, students learn on site again.
This is a relief for many - and a real problem for some.
What if the number of infections continues to rise so rapidly?
Behavioral
economist
on the pandemic: "Willingness to vaccinate is contagious, so is vaccination
skepticism
"
Why do people decide against a corona vaccination?
Behavioral economist Katrin Schmelz explains how some people could change their minds and why compulsory vaccination would have a high price in Germany.
Corona in the Free State: Bavaria imposes lockdown in circles with an incidence of over 1000
clubs and bars are closed, Christmas markets do not take place: Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder has announced massive measures in the fight against the pandemic in the Free State.
After update: Corona warning app marks fake vaccination certificates as invalid
The app can now recognize certificates manipulated by pharmacies.
Due to the technology used, real certificates are sometimes marked as invalid.
Corona pandemic: Austria goes into lockdown and plans to have vaccinations Austria will go into lockdown on
Monday.
"That hurts a lot," said Chancellor Schallenberg, but because there are too many unvaccinated people, the step must be taken.
The land goes even further in February.
Fighting Covid-19: How Israel Broke Its Fourth Wave
Israel recently had one of the highest incidences in the world, now there are only a few hundred cases a day.
Here, "Corona-Zar" Salman Zarka says how it succeeded - and how he assesses the German vaccination campaign.
Sick of Covid-19: Hello, I have a breakthrough vaccination.
You are sick?
You're vaccinated, aren't you?
These are the questions I get asked a lot right now.
I never want to hear them again - and certainly not the technical term vaccine breakthrough.
Because it is misunderstood.
Have a nice weekend
Yours Julia Merlot
