Debate about corona incidence: Doctors advocate moving away from the 50 threshold

So far, a seven-day incidence of 50 has been considered the limit for new corona restrictions. In the future, however, other guide values ​​should be decisive. From the point of view of intensive care physicians and general practitioners, the right path.

The plans of the federal government to move away from the limit value 50 for possible corona restrictions at the seven-day incidence have received positive feedback from doctors.

The President of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Gernot Marx, welcomed the joint morning magazine from ARD and ZDF the move by Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn. Like the CDU politician, Marx referred to the increasing vaccination rate in Germany.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), more than 59 percent of the German population are now fully vaccinated against Corona. More than 64 percent have received at least one of the two vaccine doses required for almost all vaccines. For a week now, the Standing Vaccination Commission has also recommended vaccinations for children and adolescents from the age of twelve.

“No problem” with hospital occupancy

Marx emphasized that the seven-day incidence will also be taken into account in the future when assessing the infection rate. It is also relevant to the development in the health sector. But currently there is “no problem at all” with hospital occupancy, despite the increasing number of infections nationwide.

In the future, the so-called hospitalization rate in particular will play a role in the assessment of the corona situation and the decision on whether protective measures may be tightened again. So the number of people who have to be treated in clinics because of a corona disease.

A step “long overdue”

From the point of view of the general practitioner association, it is long overdue that more aspects are included in the assessment of the infection process, emphasized its chairman Ulrich Weigeldt in the “Rheinische Post”. Weigeldt also spoke of a currently “moderate” burden on the health system – and this burden is mainly caused by unvaccinated people who become infected and become ill.

The situation in clinics is lagging behind the infection rate

But the decision of the Corona cabinet by Chancellor Angela Merkel and the responsible ministers also arouses criticism. The SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach spoke of a “cynical” decision to put the incidence value into the background right now. He warned of a continued sharp increase in the number of infections. And admissions to hospitals are an indicator that the actual infection process is lagging behind.

In addition, by turning away from incidence as a basis for decision-making, children are threatened to be more exposed to the infection, warned Lauterbach, also in an interview with the “Rheinische Post”.

The seven-day incidence is now 58.0

The seven-day incidence in Germany has been rising again for weeks. At the beginning of July it was 4.9 – the lowest value this year. Today the RKI reported a value of 58.0 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants per week. On Tuesday last week, the value was 37.4. In the past 24 hours, 5,747 new infections with the virus and 42 deaths suspected to be related to a corona infection were reported to the health authorities.