DVirologist Christian Drosten expects the COVID-19 pandemic to “live a very tiring winter” and believes that new exposure restrictions can be considered. In view of the situation in the intensive care unit in the NDR podcast “Coronavirus Update”, the head of virology in Charité in Berlin said: “We are now facing a real emergency.” “We have to do something now.”
Drosten said that “measures we actually want to support” must also be discussed. “So now we may have to use contact measures to control infection again-unlikely, but for sure.” However, he also restricts the implementation of a wide range of general contact measures that may be legally difficult.
“Triple fully vaccinated population”
“You can rely on enhanced vaccination instead of exposure restrictions,” Drosten said. “This is something I really believe in.” However, it was not that fast. First, you must vaccinate the elderly for the third time to prevent death. For young people, boosters are “the lifeline of communication and protection.” In the long run, the “ideal target” must be: “people who have been completely vaccinated more than 3 times”.
According to Drosten’s assessment, 3-G—that is, people vaccinated, recovered, and tested—is not enough to sufficiently reduce the number of infections. The motto is: “Testing does not prevent infection.” Those who are not vaccinated and participate in activities or work but test negative may be infected there, because vaccinated people can spread the virus to others.
Although 2-G closes the “back door” of the test option, its disadvantage is that it transfers contacts to private areas. Since vaccinated people can also transmit pathogens, “the virus will simply return to them.”
Drosten believes that “political suggestions on the table are not entirely applicable to our social problem field.” In his view, the recent decisions of Bavaria or Saxony “do not guarantee that this will really lead to the increase in morbidity being broken.”
Testing alone is not enough
The proposal to regularly test vaccinated and unvaccinated people is “logically impossible.” In principle, there is nothing wrong with providing free testing again, but it is “emergency braking, which will not under any circumstances.”
Drosten said that you must make it clear to the public that “the current situation is very serious.” “We are in a bad situation: 15 million of us could have been vaccinated, and who should be vaccinated.” The way out of the pandemic is clear: “We must close the vaccination gap.”
Lauterbach recommends that countries adopt 2-G
according to Karlauterbach The introduction of the 2-G rule across the country is the only alternative to the new lockdown to achieve a shift in the number of infections. “We either need a blockade or the 2-G rule, there will be no blockade,” the Social Democratic Party health politician told the German editorial network.
Without the federal states, the federal government would not be able to remove restrictions on vaccinations and recoveries (2-G) nationwide. “Therefore, I suggest that every state government introduce 2-G. The premise is there.”
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