If the 2-G rule now applies in most federal states, the question arises what the health authorities and authorities can do in addition to prevent another wave of corona infections in the coming winter or spring.

Some virologists and pulmonologists have therefore developed an "air hygiene check" after evaluating the latest aerosol research.

Rudiger Soldt

Political correspondent in Baden-Württemberg.

  • Follow I follow

The scientists do not want to override the current G-rules and the basic hygiene regulations, but they want to draw attention to the fact that, according to all scientific findings that are available about infections with SARS-CoV-2, interiors continue to be the "central sites of infection" par excellence will stay. To avoid further lockdown measures, the scientists propose that restaurateurs, university managements or association chairmen carry out an "air hygiene check" for their rooms on their own initiative and following simple instructions from the authorities.

For this purpose, the scientists, including the Bonn virologist Hendrik Streeck and the pulmonologist Thomas Voshaar, have developed eight parameters according to which the risk of infection indoors can be rated on a scale from one to 19.

Rooms rated with 19 points have a high risk of infection;

if they are only rated with one to six points, the risk of infection is very low.

The risk of infection is still high in toilets at motorway service stations and in elevators.

In China, high infection rates have been found in elevators after superspreaders exhaled large amounts of aerosol and contaminated the elevator cabins for several hours.

Singing is more dangerous than quiet work

The eight parameters for classifying the rooms are: How many people should there be in the room? How long do you visit the room? How high is the room? How big is he? How good are the ventilation options? Are there any additional room air devices? Is it possible to wear additional masks during the event? How great is the physical exertion of the people who are in the rooms?

If people sing, do sports or work hard, then breathing rate, breathing depth and also the aerosol output are higher than, for example, in a classroom in which silent work is practiced. If these parameters are determined and entered in a table, the risk level of the room can be calculated relatively easily. “Even with the 2-G rule, we will now have more infections in winter. The purpose of vaccination is to prevent severe disease and death. We want to make the rooms safer, ”said Thomas Voshaar of the FAZ

The scientists want to present their concept to Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) and the President of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler. Every restaurant owner can use these parameters to determine what he can do to minimize the risk of infection. He could let fewer guests into his restaurant, set up an air purifier or improve the ventilation. If he then identifies a low risk at the entrance, he is doing something for the general public and the well-being of his guests.

The scientists also suggest checking air quality with CO2 measuring devices and particle concentration with aerosol measuring devices. “Theoretically, a clubhouse or a pizzeria can also document the concentrations with a display outside,” said Voshaar. It would be helpful if, for example, the Federal Ministry of Health issued a uniform manual.

Voshaar, chief physician at the Bethanien Hospital in Moers, North Rhine-Westphalia, considers Corona to be a dangerous infectious disease despite the high vaccination rate that has now been achieved.

“In everyday clinical practice we also see a few patients who become seriously ill despite having a double vaccination and who have to be treated as an inpatient.

People who suffer from leukemia, for example, are at high risk. ”Only recently, an elderly patient who had been vaccinated twice, had leukemia and was infected with SARS-CoV-2, died in his clinic.