The physicist Viola Priesemann has spoken out in favor of a short, hard lockdown in the Corona special committee of the Lower Saxony state parliament. The federal and state governments are discussing the pandemic situation today.
The scientist from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen said that politicians had to make a clear decision and that a compromise would not help. Correspondingly tough measures could quickly reduce the number of cases to a low level that the health authorities can trace. From their point of view, easing is still a long way off.
Priesemann: Lower the incidence value to below 20
“Either a fire is under control or the fire is out of control,” said Priesemann in Hanover. You know from the experience of last summer that you have a control if the incidence value is well below 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days. If federal states were well below an incidence of 50 – ideally in the range of 10 to 20 – and the health authorities actually succeeded in tracking contacts again, one could start thinking about easing, said Priesemann. However, one has to proceed carefully so as not to gamble away the success.
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The talks are likely to be about stricter restrictions. Also: primary schools are reopening. (16.01.2021) 2 min
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Physicist promotes long-term strategy
For Priesemann it is important that something is done now and not in four weeks. There must also be a long-term strategy, she said. A clear goal would certainly help to improve motivation and understanding among the population. If a goal is clearly communicated and it is then also said that one can relax accordingly – that one not only has a locking plan, but also a relaxation plan – would help, in their view, to attract people and win them over. The current challenge is that there is no uniform goal. “Are we now orientating ourselves in the long term to hospital capacity for the next few months or are we orientating ourselves to the fact that we want to have control over the pandemic?” Asked Priesemann.
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