The corona situation in Germany has recently deteriorated. The RKI is now adjusting its risk assessment: “Very high” is now for the unvaccinated. But there was also a change regarding the vaccinated.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) sees in the Corona pandemic an increased health risk for people in Germany. For incompletely or not vaccinated people, the institute changed the risk assessment from “high” to “very high”, according to the institute’s weekly report on Thursday evening. “For fully vaccinated people, the risk is estimated to be moderate, but increasing due to the increasing number of infections,” it said. A week ago, the risk for vaccinated people was only described as “moderate” in the report.
Vaccines are effective against serious illnesses
The RKI further emphasizes, however, that all vaccines available in this country “according to the current state of knowledge with full vaccination effectively protect against serious illness”. Among the reported cases – that is, among the people who tested positive for Sars-CoV-2 – the proportion of people who were completely vaccinated has increased significantly in recent weeks. It is now over 60 percent in the age group of people 60 and over. “However, this proportion must be interpreted in conjunction with the high vaccination rate achieved in this age group,” it said – according to statistics, it is over 85 percent.
The current development of the situation is “very worrying”, writes the RKI. If measures such as masks, spacing, reducing contacts and ventilation do not quickly reduce the number of infections, a further increase in serious illnesses and deaths is to be feared. According to the report, the treatment capacities of the intensive care units could also be exceeded in this case.
In the past few weeks there has already been a significant increase in the number of Covid 19 patients in intensive care units. From October 27 to November 3, almost 460 sick people were added. According to the Divi intensive care register from Thursday, a total of 2,332 sufferers are now being treated. According to the report, the highest risk of hospitalization is still in the over 80 age group.
High risk of infection in children and adolescents
The RKI continues to record very high seven-day incidences, particularly in children over the age of five and adolescents – vaccinations have so far only been possible from the age of 12. Values of more than 250 infections per 100,000 inhabitants within a week were recorded in 65 districts.
The RKI writes that because of the high pressure of infection, it is important for those who have been vaccinated and recovered to comply with the measures to protect against infection – “even at events or meetings under 3G and 2G conditions!” It is also about slowing down other pathogens.
Due to the recorded rate of acute respiratory infections in Germany, the RKI assumes that contacts in which the pathogens are transmitted will occur again as frequently as in the two winters before the pandemic. “This is very different from the same period in 2020,” it said.