Fight against Corona: Pressure on the federal and state governments is increasing

Before the peak meeting on the corona situation on Thursday, the pressure on the federal and state governments to react decisively to the increasing number of infections is growing. In a call on Saturday, 35 leading medical professionals and other experts called on governments to change course quickly. The researchers, led by internist Michael Hallek and virologist Melanie Brinkmann, complain "the repeated negligent treatment of the well-being of people who depend on the protection of the state". They warn: “Every day of waiting costs human lives.” In the appeal published by the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger and Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, they call for a national crisis team with experts and practitioners from virology, medicine and companies.

Meanwhile, there was criticism from the ranks of the Greens of the traffic light parties' plan to let the special status of the epidemic situation expire on a national level.

The Green Health Ministers of Hesse, Brandenburg and Baden-Württemberg are calling for an extension of the special legal situation, which would allow contact and exit restrictions even without renewed approval by the Bundestag.

"This ensures that all the measures required by the experts can be implemented," says a statement by Kai Klose (Hesse), Ursula Nonnemacher (Brandenburg) and Manne Lucha (Baden-Württemberg), which the German press Agency is present.

Merkel promotes uniformity

The Bundestag is due to vote on the change on Thursday. The Union parliamentary group wants to apply for an extension of the special status, as the Rheinische Post reported on the weekend. In addition, she proposes changes for the revision of the Infection Protection Act planned by the traffic light parties: Employers should be given the right to ask questions in order to be able to determine the vaccination status of their employees; Gaps in criminal liability for falsifying vaccination passports are to be closed.

The Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) campaigned on Saturday for a uniform approach by the federal and state governments. "It has always helped us when the federal and state governments take action and commit to uniform rules," she said in her video podcast. Merkel referred to the so-called hospitalization index, which indicates the number of corona patients in the hospitals: In order for the correct conclusions to be drawn, the federal and state governments would have to agree “very quickly” on a common threshold value, “from which in each case corresponding to regional infection values ​​that go beyond the measures currently in force, additional steps to contain the pandemic ”could be initiated. You and the Prime Ministers want to discuss further measures next Thursday.

The acting Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer (CSU) also hopes that the federal-state meeting will bring nationwide regulations.

"We must no longer confuse the population," he told the Augsburger Allgemeine.

"Vaccination centers open, vaccination centers closed - continued payment of wages in quarantine yes, then no again - free test, subject to a fee.

Yes, did anyone seriously believe that someone else would be tested on their own account if they did not receive any continued wages after being in quarantine? "

Incidence again at its highest level

The nationwide seven-day incidence has meanwhile risen to a new high. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported a value of a good 277 on Saturday. A week ago the value was just under 184, a month ago it was a good 65. Berlin exceeded the incidence of 300, Thuringia 500 and Saxony 600. In The vaccination rate is below average in all three federal states. Four districts now report an incidence of more than 1000, 62 districts are above the 500 mark. Only Schleswig-Holstein has a value below 100 with 95.9. In Saxony, Thuringia, Hesse and Bavaria in particular, intensive care beds are becoming scarce.

The health authorities in Germany reported 45,081 new corona infections to the RKI within one day.

This is evident from the numbers that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 4:21 am.

On Thursday, the number of new infections reached 50,196, a record since the beginning of the pandemic.

Exactly one week ago the value was 34,002 infections.

The number of cases has increased by 33 percent compared to the previous week.

According to the new information, 228 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours.

A week ago there were 142 deaths.

The RKI has counted 4,987,971 detected infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic.

The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections are not detected.

The number of corona patients admitted to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days - the most important parameter for a possible tightening of the corona restrictions - was given by the RKI on Friday as 4.70 (Thursday: 4.65). With the indicator it must be taken into account that hospital admissions are sometimes reported with delay. A nationwide threshold value from when the situation can be viewed critically has not yet been provided for the incidence of hospitalization, due to large regional differences, among other things. The previous high was around 15.5 around Christmas time.

Because of the lost control over the pandemic, the Bundeswehr wants to mobilize 12,000 soldiers to support overburdened clinics and health departments by Christmas due to the worsening corona situation, according to a report by the magazine Der Spiel.

Uniformed helpers should therefore also be available for booster vaccinations and rapid tests in front of nursing homes and hospitals.