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WORLD:

Mr. Madsen, Rostock has come through the corona pandemic very well so far: How is the Hanseatic city currently positioned?

Claus Ruhe Madsen:

According to the Robert Koch Institute, Rostock's incidence is currently 25.8.

However, what we attach more importance to, if you may put it that way, is that we have only had 27 deaths for a population of 209,191 since the beginning of the pandemic.

I believe that in a year no one will talk about the seven-day incidence, but they will talk about how many people have died.

Due to our low incidence, our clinic can run its normal and full program, for example in the prevention and treatment of cancer.

We see that as a success.

"I would like to give as many people as possible a vaccination protection of at least 70 percent than a few a vaccination of 97 percent"

Source: picture alliance / dpa / dpa-Zentral

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WORLD:

How fast are you currently vaccinating in Rostock?

Madsen:

I vaccinate everything I get.

This is of course a limited amount of vaccine because my state government in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is still holding back half of the vaccines for the second vaccination.

I have asked several times to withhold less vaccine because I would rather offer a primary vaccination to as many people as possible, especially the elderly and nursing home residents.

I would like to give as many people as possible a vaccination protection of at least 70 percent than a few of 97 percent.

WORLD:

More vaccine should be available soon.

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Madsen:

But I fear that it will end like a ketchup bottle, where first a little and then a large surge comes out all at once, which we have to cope with.

It doesn't work overnight.

As early as mid-December in Rostock we had a long list of doctors, nurses and volunteers who were organized in up to 40 mobile teams and ready to vaccinate.

We had given general practitioners vaccination boxes from the vaccination center so that they could vaccinate their elderly patients independently in the practice.

But nothing helps us very little if we don't have enough vaccine.

WORLD:

On Wednesday the federal and state governments will meet again, then the lockdown could be extended until shortly before Easter.

What do you expect from the Prime Ministers and the Chancellor?

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Madsen:

It is important to me that we finally focus on people.

Sometimes I get the impression that we are very technocratic.

We listen to virologists, refer to mathematical calculations, but not at all to child psychologists - in other words, to those aspects that we also have to consider about Corona.

Arithmetic modules are all well and good, they can always adapt and correct a situation - but that is so far from humans, and that is not the right approach.

WORLD:

What does that mean in concrete terms?

Madsen:

As mayor, I don't run around town doing something crazy.

We have a health department and want to gradually enable knowledge-based openings.

Our answer to the many questions from children, parents, entrepreneurs, clubs, senior citizens and other citizens cannot be to keep society closed.

This has serious consequences that may be with us for decades.

We have already vaccinated some of the elderly people and residents in nursing and old people's homes and built up a certain level of protection.

And in this area of ​​the accommodation we must continue to vaccinate and test to the maximum.

But we also have to show ways of opening up, because Corona will keep us busy for months.

And I would like a playing field on which we municipalities and communities can act together with our health authorities.

WORLD:

In a strategy paper that you worked out with the mayors of Münster and Tübingen, you demand a drastic rethink when imposing corona measures.

What is your opening plan?

Madsen:

First and foremost, we want to enable education in Rostock by opening daycare centers and schools.

Children have a right to education.

And for this we offer the students self-tests at home up to twice a week from now until Pentecost.

Then we immediately recognize when they bring the test results with them to school, where we have an outbreak and must act.

We also collect information, scientifically supported, that will help us with possible future pandemics.

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In Denmark, the British mutant now accounts for 40 percent of all new infections, with a high proportion in children and adolescents - and the big problem that many are symptom-free.

That is why we urgently need to test in the schools to find out whether we get a specific problem there.

WORLD:

You also want to enable trade.

Madsen:

We want to open with an appointment, as a voluntary offer to the bridal shop, the jeweler, the car or furniture dealer, for example.

In turn, customers should use the “Luca” app on their smartphone for digital contact tracking.

So we can do the otherwise laborious follow-up of the health department if an infection occurs somewhere with the push of a button.

Thus, as the incidence increases, we increase contact tracing, make it more effective.

And it is no longer a problem if the name Mickey Mouse appears, because we have the mobile number and can reach the owner.

The use of "Luca" at the hairdressers in Rostock on Monday already worked great, as the hairdressers' guild told me.

I would like to collect as much knowledge and data as possible from this pilot project because we will get the third, fourth and fifth waves.

WORLD:

Then the definition of a certain incidence value is not the decisive factor?

Madsen:

We now know a lot more about the virus and how to treat the disease.

We have started to vaccinate the elderly who mostly come to the clinics.

Therefore, we assume that even if the incidence is higher, the hospitals will not be overburdened.

So even at a higher incidence value, we could open up again and learn to deal with it.

The more we use apps like "Luca", the more we can track the situation and give people the opportunity to find their way back to life and work.

For example, in March I would like to invite people who have been vaccinated again from nursing and old people's homes to three concerts in the Volkstheater.

I would like to enable joy again, with art and culture, with sport in clubs - also there in the form of self-tests - and with the already mentioned step-by-step opening of trade.

WORLD:

What else do you require besides rapid tests and digital tracking?

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Madsen:

The Rostock plan is supplemented by a traffic light system.

This is made up of seven indicators: The health department reports whether it complies with the contact tracing, what the demographic composition of the infected is and whether it is an outbreak in one or more locations.

Added to this are the proportion of mutants, the R value, the seven-day incidence and the occupancy of the clinics.

With these seven indicators we determine an overall picture every day, distribute up to three points per indicator, come to a total of 21 and switch the traffic light to green, yellow or red accordingly.

We have to move away from the 35 incidence, including the 50. Instead, we need a traffic light that takes up the parameters mentioned.

We need a way with Corona because we simply cannot regulate everything in this exceptional situation.

No measure, no law prevents people from meeting.

So let's allow it where we can see people, track their steps and, in the worst case, stop them.

WORLD:

As an EU citizen, you have the right to run for candidates at the municipal level.

This is how you became Lord Mayor of Rostock.

Now there are people who would like you to take on German citizenship in order to be able to hold higher offices in politics.

So far you have refused.

And what circumstances could you reconsider?

Madsen:

I am mayor of the most beautiful city in the world and I have no plans to leave it.

But by now I would be ready to become a German citizen - so that no speculation arises now, only after the state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the federal elections on September 26th.

However, I do not want to become a German in order to get more posts, but to express my gratitude to the citizens for what we have achieved together in this pandemic.

We are currently on a sinking ship, and as captain I have a job: I have to make sure that the Rostock cog arrives safely at the port.

WORLD:

How do you manage to stay on the ground even though you have been praised for your pragmatism since the beginning of the pandemic?

Madsen:

I have a Finnish wife.

These gradual easings are in prospect

The lockdown will probably be extended until March 28th.

However, the draft resolution for the federal-state meeting provides for gradual easing.

These are the individual measures and their conditions at a glance.

Source: WELT / Eybe Ahlers