DChairman of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Willer, Depicting a dramatic picture of the corona situation in Germany. “We are currently in a terrible predicament. If we don’t take countermeasures now, our Christmas will really be very bad,” Willer said in an online discussion with Saxon Prime Minister Michael Krechmer (CDU) on Wednesday night. .
The number of new infections is rising sharply, and in fact it may be much higher than known: “The under-recording of the true numbers is increasing.” Behind the more than 50,000 infections currently registered every day, “is at least two times or more hidden. Tripled,” the RKI boss said.
“People can no longer get help”
Recently, 0.8% of patients died. This means that of the more than 50,000 people infected every day, 400 will die in the next few weeks. “There is nothing to do about this.” In a federal press conference, he recently spoke more cautiously about 200 deaths a day, but the number is actually higher. No one can help these people, even with the best medical services.
Willer said the situation in the hospital is also getting worse. “We have never been so worried as we are now,” said the boss of RKI. The number of severely ill patients with new coronary pneumonia continues to increase, and stroke patients and other severely ill patients have to find free intensive care beds for up to two hours in some places. “Supply no longer meets all federal state regulations.” And this situation will increase.
“The forecast is super bleak, really bleak”
“As you can see, the predictions are very bleak. They are really dark,” Wieler said. “Our country has an emergency. If you didn’t see this, you made a big mistake.” RKI Early on, it gave very clear recommendations for action, and warned that if “population-related measures” are not taken and the vaccination rate does not increase significantly, the fourth wave may significantly exceed all previous waves. In fact, the modeling scene has now arrived.
Weiler accused politics of serious errors and omissions. “We opened up too quickly in too many areas,” he criticized. “Clubs and bars are hotspots, in my opinion they must be closed.” Major events will have to be cancelled. There are too many contacts in the population, and people have known from the first wave of coronavirus that contact restrictions are effective.
Don’t give the vaccinated people a chance
At the same time, Wieler urges the consistent implementation of the 2G rule, that is, only vaccinated and recovered people can enter many areas. “We really can’t give those who have not been vaccinated the opportunity to bypass vaccination, such as getting tested,” he said. In order to increase the vaccination rate, vaccination should also be carried out in the pharmacy.
“I will be very clear about this now: now must be the end of the story, someone does not allow any other professional group to be vaccinated under any circumstances. We are in an emergency,” Wieler emphasized. “Every person and mouse who can be vaccinated should be vaccinated now. Otherwise we will not be able to control this crisis.”
Weiler called for politics to finally take action. “We don’t have to keep inventing new things. All these concepts and formulas are in place,” he said. “This is clear language, but after 21 months, I can hardly bear the fact that what I said and many other colleagues may not be recognized.”
