According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the fourth wave of the corona pandemic has started in Germany. The proportion of positive samples under the PCR tests in laboratories had risen from four to six percent within a week by mid-August, it says in the institute’s latest weekly report. Younger age groups are particularly affected by infections. “This clearly shows the beginning of the fourth wave, which is picking up speed, particularly due to infections among the young adult population,” the report says.
The RKI continues to rate the risk to the health of people who have not yet been vaccinated or have only been vaccinated once in Germany as high overall. For fully vaccinated people, the researchers rate it as moderate. According to the analysis, there has been an increase in the incidence in Germany since the beginning of July, especially in the age groups of ten to 49 year olds. A similar increase in this population group was observed in summer 2020 – but only five weeks later, i.e. from the end of September to the beginning of October. At that time there was no vaccination protection. So far this summer, the more contagious Delta variant has dominated – now 99 percent.
The RKI’s weekly report appears with a time delay. Most of the results in the most recent analysis relate to data from the first week of August. (08/20/2021)
Drosten: Most of them do not need a booster vaccination in autumn
According to the virologist Christian Drosten, no booster vaccination will be necessary in autumn for the majority of those vaccinated. “The protective effect of the corona vaccine is much better than, for example, the influenza vaccines,” he told the German press agency. Drosten does not expect a new virus variant that is resistant to the available vaccines to appear anytime soon.
For old people and certain high-risk patients, Drosten believes that a booster vaccination this autumn makes sense. “After six months, the antibody level acquired through the vaccination goes down significantly, especially in very old people.” In special situations such as retirement homes, a refresher is therefore conceivable. In terms of numbers, this would hardly conflict with the international shortage of vaccines. For the rest of the population, an age level may be defined at some point from which a booster vaccination would make sense. “This autumn, however, it will be important to close the vaccination gaps in the 60-year-olds in the first place.” (08/19/2021)
Pediatricians are critical of school vaccinations
The professional association of paediatricians has criticized the plans of several federal states to vaccinate children and adolescents in and around schools. “The young people in the schools are very much under peer pressure, so that a free and independent decision is difficult,” said the national spokesman for the association, the pediatrician Jakob Maske, the editorial network Germany (RND). Mask instead advised vaccination in practices: “Vaccinating your own pediatrician has the advantage that the doctor knows the family and the environment well and can advise parents better on whether the vaccination makes sense for the family or not. “
After the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) made a recommendation to vaccinate children and adolescents, vaccination campaigns for this age group have started or are being planned in several federal states, for example with mobile vaccination teams at schools, “family vaccination days” in vaccination centers or vaccinations in leisure facilities or animal parks.
The Association of Education and Upbringing (VBE) agrees with the pediatricians’ criticism. Although the Stiko vaccination recommendation is generally welcomed, an informed decision by the affected children and their parents is better possible with the family doctor or pediatrician. “We think it is questionable whether this can be redeemed if the vaccination takes place in mobile vaccination vehicles in front of the school,” said the association’s chairman Udo Beckmann. He also warns of possible conflicts if parents or young people who are against a vaccination see themselves harassed by the presence of vaccination teams. “It helps, of course, that we have more security in schools if the twelve to 17-year-olds also get vaccinated, but voluntariness has to be maintained,” said Beckmann of the German press agency.
The German Teachers’ Association, on the other hand, endorsed the plans to carry out vaccinations in schools. “Anything that quickly increases safety in schools is good,” said association boss Heinz-Peter Meidinger to the RND. “It is absolutely clear that a high vaccination rate for schoolchildren is probably the most important building block for more health protection in schools during the pandemic and thus ultimately for a speedy return to normal school operations.” In his own words, he does not share the fear that conflicts could be carried into the schools and that group pressure could be exerted on pupils who are not willing to vaccinate or their parents. There are ways to organize vaccinations in such a way that school operations are hardly affected and the necessary anonymity and voluntariness are absolutely preserved, said Meidinger. (08/19/2021)
Cologne Carnival plans “largely normal session”
After a conversation between the carnivalists and representatives of the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Cologne Carnival Festival Committee is assuming a “largely” normal session in 2022 for those who have been vaccinated, those who have recovered and those who have been tested using a PCR test. Unlike in Düsseldorf, where only immunized persons are allowed to participate in some hall events, a negative PCR test also enables everyone who has neither been vaccinated nor recovered to participate in balls, meetings and parties indoors, it said in a message.
A PCR test must then be submitted for indoor dance events with a seven-day incidence of over 35, unless one has been vaccinated or has recovered. The so-called 3-G rule – vaccinated, recovered or tested – should also apply to removals, whereby a quick test is sufficient for the spectators in the fresh air, as the Cologne Carnival Festival Committee explained. How this should be controlled, there are agreements between the organizers and the authorities. “The revelers now have the key to carefree and safe celebrations in their own hands,” said Festival Committee President Christoph Kuckelkorn.
According to the announcement, Klaus-Ludwig Fess, President of the Federation of German Carnival, emphasized the role model from the point of view of the carnivalists. The NRW model appears as a “blueprint for many events throughout Germany” and enables vaccinated and recovered people to “celebrate carnival largely normally” without slamming the door to everyone else. The Düsseldorf Carnivalists are more restrictive at some events: the Düsseldorf Carneval Committee wants to only allow vaccinated and convalescents at its own hall events. This is intended to provide targeted vaccination incentives. (08/18/2021)
In Baden-Württemberg you can dance without a mask
In clubs and discos in Baden-Württemberg, there is no mask requirement on the dance floor and in the seating area under certain conditions. According to a message from Tuesday evening, the Stuttgart Ministry of Health agreed on this with representatives of the club scene and the German Hotel and Restaurant Association.
Accordingly, the industry must create a so-called sample hygiene concept that is used in all clubs. In addition, all visitors must register via an app so that contact tracking is guaranteed. If clubs can show a ventilation concept, they can use their rooms to 100 percent if they apply the 3-G rule – vaccinated, recovered or tested, in which case PCR tests are necessary. Clubs that do not have sufficient ventilation capacity are only allowed to let in vaccinated and convalescent people and only use 70 percent of their space.
At the beginning of the week, a new regulation with relaxations for people who had been vaccinated and who had recovered from the virus came into force in Baden-Württemberg. The incidence no longer plays a role in the state for the derivation of corona measures. Since the state government estimates the risk of infection in clubs to be particularly high, it has tied openings in this area to stricter conditions. (08/17/2021)
Greens in North Rhine-Westphalia are demanding daily tests in schools
Shortly before school starts, the North Rhine-Westphalian Greens are calling for daily corona tests for schoolchildren. “If you want to guarantee classroom teaching, you really have to make the school a safer place. The preparations are still inadequate,” said Sigrid Beer, the education spokeswoman for the Greens in the state parliament. In view of the high risk of infection from the Delta variant and due to the number of people returning to school, testing once or twice a week was not enough to minimize risks, especially at the start of school this Wednesday.
“Of course, vaccination is first and foremost the way out of the pandemic,” said the leader of the Greens in the state parliament, Josefine Paul. Outreach and unconventional vaccination and education offers at schools and youth centers, at best for the whole family, are therefore important. At the same time, Paul appealed to everyone else to get immunized: “The adults are now responsible for building a protective cocoon around the younger ones,” she said, referring in particular to the children under the age of twelve, for whom there is no approved vaccine . In addition, more should be relied on the more reliable PCR lollipop tests, which so far have only been used in special schools and primary schools.
The parliamentary group leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, also quickly calls for “easily accessible schoolyard vaccination offers”, which should also be open to the children’s parents. The education and the information campaign should now keep pace. “That is why we need explanations that are easy to understand, even for older young people themselves.” (08/16/2021)