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Drosten criticized an insufficient understanding of science. “This is asking for something that is a Herculean task that the whole of the scientific community will do,” he said. Therefore, the suspicion arose that the scientific process should be artificially accelerated by politicians.
In particular, Drosten sharply criticized the composition of the body. Despite his initial warning, “there are no full-time epidemiologists on the commission at all,” he said.
This is also the result of a lack of mutual coordination. “For example, individual factions said that we would like that, or a ministry said that we would like that.” However, there was no check for completeness.
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At the same time, Drosten warned against having too high expectations of science. The pandemic is evolving and constantly changing its characteristics. “It will take quite a while – I think significantly more than a year,” said the head of the Institute for Virology at the Berlin Charité. “Unfortunately, we have to endure it until it’s finished and then at some point you’ll get a realization.”
Doubts about the general ability to take personal responsibility
Drosten expressed mixed feelings about the lifting of the political corona restrictions as far as possible. “Our population will build up population immunity,” he said, referring to the current vaccination rate of almost 76 percent.
Nevertheless, Drosten called for special measures for vulnerable groups who cannot protect themselves. “You now have to use the possibilities of medicine and the health system for this and pave the way for them.”
According to Drosten, the narrative of personal responsibility also needs to be put to the political test. This also includes the ability to take personal responsibility, “and unfortunately not every citizen has the ability to protect oneself and make certain decisions”.
At the same time, he promised a mitigation of the infection process. “In summer we have less ability to spread the virus because of the temperature effect.” According to Drosten, this phase should be used politically for further epidemiological educational work.
Fear of the virus is decreasing
Apparently, the decreasing number of infections is accompanied by the decreasing social fear of the virus. According to the so-called Corona Monitor of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), 87 percent said they had worn masks in the past 14 days. Before Easter it was still 94 percent, as the BfR announced on Tuesday.
The proportion of those who keep a clear distance from other people has also fallen from 76 percent to 64 percent since Easter. Many still rely on more frequent airing (65 percent) or the Coronawarnapp (40 percent) to protect against infection.
The proportion of those who consider the risk of infection in shops for daily needs to be high fell from 37 to 31 percent. Schools and daycare centers (64 percent) and public transport (61 percent) are still seen as places with the highest risk of infection.
With a view to the topic of schools, Drosten now criticized the social and political discourse. “It’s all quite misguided, because the scientific process isn’t finished, and then this phenomenon occurs that individual peoplepeople with their private opinions,” he said.
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In the discussion, reference to the strategies of other countries makes only limited sense. “For certain reasons, they could also rely better on home office regulations,” says Drosten. At the same time, he explained that the complexity of this topic could be grasped by the scientific system – but until then the uncertainty would have to be endured.
Omikron variants BA4 and BA5 probably not a problem
When asked about the development of the pandemic in South Africa , where the new Omicron variants BA4 and BA5 are spreading, Drosten tried to allay any concerns. These are more contagious than the BA2 type that is prevalent in this country. But the basic pandemic conditions are different. “We had BA1 and BA2 separately, so I don’t think we’ll have another big problem with BA4, BA5 here,” says Drosten.
On the one hand, Germany went through a BA2 post-infection, which was not the case in South Africa . There, BA4 and BA5 followed directly on BA 1. On the other hand, the summer temperature effect is now decisive. “That means I expect that BA4 and 5 will also increase in number, but within a very low total,” explained Drosten.
After Drosten’s withdrawal, the Corona Expert Committee still has 16 members, including the Bonn virologist Hendrik Streeck and the Berlin sociologist Jutta Allmendinger. When he retired, Drosten emphasized that he would remain a member of the federal government’s Corona Expert Council. The latter draws up recommendations for dealing with the pandemic on the basis of current scientific knowledge.
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