Greens boss Robert Habeck urged non-vaccinated people to vaccinate with clear words. You have to “give your weaker self a strong kick in the buttocks, so overcome this indolence, which probably a large part of the people still has in them”. It is not about excluding unvaccinated people, said Habeck, but about giving back basic rights and a free life to those who have been vaccinated. You have the right not to be vaccinated. “But you do not have the right that all vaccinated people and the rest of society and the children take it into account because you have decided to endanger your own life and society,” said Habeck in the ZDF summer interview.
Union parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus also expects that the pressure on people who have not been vaccinated will continue to grow. The vaccinated are mad at the non-vaccinated, Brinkhaus said World on sunday. Because they experienced that they did not get their freedoms back in full despite the corona vaccination. “I think the pressure from the vaccinated part of the population will increase enormously. And that is completely understandable.” Too much is being talked about an alleged indirect compulsory vaccination and too little about the rights of those who have been vaccinated, said the CDU politician. “But I assume that it will take care of itself in the fall, because hoteliers, clubs and event organizers will say: Sorry, you just can’t get in to me with a test.”
On the other hand, Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet spoke out in favor of the “3-G rule”. “The state must not exclude those who have been vaccinated, recovered or tested from participating in social life,” he said Picture on sunday. Bremen’s mayor, Andreas Bovenschulte, does not believe in any disadvantages for people who have not been vaccinated. “I think you get further with conviction than with pressure. At least that’s the experience we made in Bremen,” said the SPD politician Handelsblatt. In view of rising incidences, the prime ministers want to discuss how to proceed in the pandemic with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) on Tuesday.
“EM games in Munich were not a source of infection”
According to the Bavarian Ministry of Health, the EM games in Munich “made no significant contribution to the infection rate in the Free State”: only five corona infections in connection with attending an EM game in Munich were reported to the State Office for Health. Around 14,500 spectators were admitted to the Allianz Arena for the UEFA EURO 2020 games in Munich.
A ministry spokesman said 18 corona cases across Bavaria were associated with public viewing events around the game days. In addition, five visitors to a European Championship game abroad were then tested positive. Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) said with a view to future major sporting events: “We need strict adherence to the hygiene concepts, especially in autumn, when the framework conditions change again due to a possibly increasing number of cases, new virus variants and increased staying in closed rooms!” A ministry spokesman said that the results of an internationally attended Europe-wide sporting event in June with a very low incidence could not easily be transferred to Bundesliga games in autumn or other major sporting and cultural events. No Covid case in connection with stadium visits was reported from other federal states.
3127 new infections, incidence increases to 22.6
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reports 3127 new positive tests. That is 1030 more than on Sunday a week ago, when 2097 new infections were reported. The seven-day incidence increases to 22.6 from 21.2 the previous day. The value indicates how many people per 100,000 inhabitants have contracted the coronavirus in the past seven days. Four other people died related to the virus. This increases the number of reported deaths within 24 hours to 91,782. In total, more than 3.79 million corona tests have so far been positive in Germany.
The number of Covid patients in intensive care units is increasing
Now the number of corona patients in intensive medical treatment is also increasing somewhat. “For the first time in weeks we are seeing a real increase in the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care units with sufficient capacity,” wrote the President of the German Society for Internal Intensive Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine (DGIIN), Christian Karagiannidis, on Twitter. It is important to increase the vaccination rate.
Karagiannidis referred to information from the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) from Saturday, according to which 417 Covid patients were last treated in intensive care. A week ago it was 359.
A big question with a view to the coming months is to what extent the previous vaccination successes can prevent a high burden on the health system despite the increasing number of infections. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), all approved vaccines effectively protect those who have been completely vaccinated against disease in the now dominant Delta variant. So far, more than 54 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated.
The seven-day incidence has recently increased slightly. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Saturday morning, it was 21.2. The incidence – i.e. the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants per week – has so far been the basis for many restrictions in the pandemic, for example as part of the federal emergency brake that expired at the end of June. It is debated whether to take more values such as hospital admissions into account in the future.
In its weekly report on Thursday, the RKI wrote in relation to Covid cases treated by intensive care medicine: “The numbers are stagnating at a low level or are rising again slightly regionally.” (07.08.2021)
Stiko boss accuses politics of actionism
The head of the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko), Thomas Mertens, has accused politicians of being active in the debate about vaccinating children and adolescents between the ages of twelve and 18. “The actionism in politics certainly does not help calm people down,” said Mertens Augsburger Allgemeine. “I don’t really know why this is being done. It would be better for the public to perceive things if things were approached a little more calmly and more carefully,” said Mertens. But he doesn’t feel pressured by the political debate.
The Ulm virologist said he was not particularly worried about school lessons after the summer vacation. “Many calculations show that teaching at schools would be easy to handle if the known measures – including wearing a mask, ventilating and installing air filters – were implemented,” emphasized the Stiko boss. “We must not forget that 9.1 million children under the age of twelve cannot be vaccinated at all – this applies to all daycare and kindergarten children, all children in primary schools, all children in the first grade of secondary schools.” A variety of measures are needed to ensure everyday school life. “The statement that this is only possible through vaccinations is not correct.” (07.08.2021)
RKI calculation: vaccination campaign prevented more than 38,000 deaths
According to a model calculation by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the vaccination campaign against the corona virus has prevented an estimated thousands of deaths in Germany. “Our data presented here prove the outstanding benefit of the Covid-19 vaccination already in the first 6.5 months of the vaccination campaign in Germany in 2021”, write the authors of the analysis published on Friday. This shows that an estimated 38,300 deaths were prevented in the course of the third corona wave. The number of reported cases prevented is put at more than 706,000, that of inpatients to more than 76,600, and that of patients in intensive care to just under 20,000.
“This high effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign shows impressively that vaccinations pave the way out of the pandemic,” writes the RKI. Germany is currently at the beginning of a fourth wave. In order to keep their extent as low as possible, it is necessary to increase the proportion of the vaccinated population as quickly as possible.
For the analysis, experts modeled a scenario with a vaccination campaign and one without. The actual reporting cases therefore differed from the cases calculated by the model, it said. The RKI also points out that various parameters and assumptions were included with certain uncertainties. For example, it is about the effects of prioritization. It was also assumed that all available vaccines would be used without delay. “In addition, it was assumed that without the vaccination campaign, apart from the existing non-pharmacological measures, no further measures would have been taken,” the RKI restricts. (07.08.2021)
World Medical Association proposes compulsory testing for those returning to travel
The chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, believes that a test is mandatory for those returning to travel. “Without exception, all those entering the country have to present a negative corona test, including those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered,” he tells the Funke media group. He points to the increasing number of so-called vaccination breakthroughs, which are symptomatic infections in people who have been vaccinated. The RKI has so far found 7,500 breakthroughs in vaccination in 42 million people who have been vaccinated twice. (07.08.2021)
Large parts of the south of France are becoming high risk areas
The federal government classifies larger parts of France as a corona high-risk area. The Robert Koch Institute announced on Friday that this will apply to the regions of Occitania, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and the island of Corsica from Sunday. After a decline in the number of infections, the Netherlands will no longer be a high-risk area.
Anyone who travels to Germany from a high-risk area and cannot prove a complete vaccination or recovery, must be in quarantine. It can only be ended after five days with a negative test. In addition, a digital entry registration must be completed.
The now upgraded areas in France are all regions where tourism plays an important role. For example, the entire French Mediterranean coast from Nice in the east to the Spanish border behind Perpignan falls under it. (08/06/2021)
Saxony is considering extra vacation for vaccinated officials and state employees
Following the example of the Czech Republic, Saxony is examining the introduction of extra leave for vaccinated public sector employees. “The idea of the Czech government is not bad: Every vaccinated public service employee gets two additional days of vacation. I think we should try it if it is possible,” says the Saxon Interior Minister Roland Wöller (CDU) Leipziger Volkszeitung.
The vaccination quota must be increased significantly, otherwise the likelihood of restrictions in autumn increases. Saxony ranks last of all federal states in terms of the vaccination rate. Politicians cannot do it alone. “We need a concerted action with business, trade unions and associations that call for vaccinations together. We need new incentives – precisely because we are voluntary and do not want to be vaccinated,” said Wöller. (08/06/2021)