Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach has urged the federal states to provide more mask requirements for indoor areas due to the high number of corona infections in many places.

"The direction in which we are headed is not good," said the SPD politician on Friday in Berlin, with a view to the increasing number of infections, deaths and burdens in clinics.

"It's really time now." It would make more sense to work now with fewer restrictions than to react late with very drastic ones.

Lauterbach presented a new campaign under the motto "I protect myself", which is intended to promote vaccinations, but also mutual caution and protection with masks.

It's not a fear campaign.

"It's about us sticking together as a community." In the campaign, 84 "real people" would report on their fate, for example about longer-lasting health problems after infections (Long Covid).

There are funny and "not so funny" motifs in the campaign.

Publications in all media are planned.

He also criticized the "playing down" in the discussion about deaths in connection with a corona infection.

Whether someone died “with” or “from” Corona is wrongly assessed by laypeople.

"Because if I die with Corona, it may still be the case that I would not have died without the Corona infection," said Lauterbach.

"A lot of people don't get that.

They then think that dying with Corona means he would have died anyway.”

"Considerable number of unreported cases"

In addition, a corona infection also increases the likelihood of dying from cardiovascular disease for one year.

"Anyone who has now had Corona and dies six months later of a heart attack will never be included in the Corona statistics," explained Lauterbach.

“But they should actually be counted.

Because the person would not have died without the infection.” This trivialization is not appropriate.

The minister made it clear that with more advanced vaccines, medicines for infected people and more accurate data, the tools for pandemic control in the fall and winter are in place.

The federal government is doing everything it can to ensure that the corona crisis remains in the background during the Ukraine war and high inflation and does not become the dominant issue in autumn and winter.

Lauterbach is already assuming a “considerable number of unreported cases” in the case of corona infections.

"I believe the numbers we have are reliable but not complete," he said.

There is an underreporting of people who did not have a positive rapid test confirmed by a PCR test.

"Therefore, we expect an unreported number that the total number is three to four times as high as what we are now evaluating.

And that means that we might not have 100,000 new cases right now, but if you counted all cases, up to 400,000 cases.”

Criticism of the implementation of the Oktoberfest

In view of the critical corona development in Munich after the Oktoberfest, Lauterbach sees a need for further protective measures.

He thinks that "Munich, but also Bavaria, has a special obligation to think about what to do with the mask requirement indoors," said the SPD politician on Friday in Berlin.

"Do you really want to let it go like this?" That would be at the expense of nurses, medical staff and people who would be infected.

“Now you have to think about when is the right time to show responsibility.” The Infection Protection Act provides this.

After the end of the Oktoberfest, the number of infections in Munich rose sharply, and clinics reported problems.

Lauterbach said: "Now we have to look ahead.

It doesn't help to step after it." At the same time, he confirmed: "Of course, the Oktoberfest, the way it was done, was a bad idea."

It would have been difficult to cancel due to the lack of a legal basis.

"But could it or should it have been done better?

Of course, the answer is yes.” For example, one should have warned: “Who should come, who shouldn’t come,” said Lauterbach, referring to people with previous illnesses.

The very minimum would have been to offer everyone a self-test upon entry or, even better, to provide proof of the test.

Regardless of the Infection Protection Act, you can of course make specifications at any time within the framework of the domiciliary rights for visiting an event or a restaurant.