Since the beginning of the pandemic, it has often been about data, curves, model calculations. The SZ began early on to explain these numbers, to classify them, to process them graphically, to somehow make the incomprehensible comprehensible. Since the end of February 2020, the SZ has been showing the current number of cases and other pandemic indicators – at first irregularly and from April 1, 2020 daily in all editions in printed or digital form. Most recently, it appeared in the newspaper twice a week and online 24 hours a day.
A lot has changed in these three years. In the first two years in particular, many people’s everyday lives depended on whether constantly changing numbers were above or below statutory thresholds. All of this data had weaknesses: how high the incidence was in a district was not only determined by how many people there were infected. The rate was also significantly influenced by the number of tests conducted in the region. As well as the speed with which the health authorities sent positive results – sometimes by fax – to the responsible authorities.
In the first pandemic winter, it was no longer just about avoiding as many infections as possible, the focus was on avoiding an overload of the health system. The SZ now also showed data on Covid 19 patients in the intensive care units, and later also on hospitalizations. In the meantime, it depended on the hospitalization incidence value newly introduced in 2021, how severe the restrictions were in a federal state. These limit values were quickly abolished again after massive criticism from experts; the methodical weaknesses in the calculation of some parameters were too obvious.
The SZ has repeatedly adapted its corona graphics to the changed pandemic situation, new laws and the changing data situation. Together with other editorial departments, she has campaigned for a better data situation at the Robert Koch Institute and the Federal Ministry of Health, and discussed the meaningfulness of the numbers with scientists. And again and again classified which figures are still important in order to understand the development of the pandemic.
After three years with the virus, the editors have decided to only show the data on the website at www.sz.de/coronadaten for the time being – in a revised presentation. And to reduce them to the values that are currently loadable and comparable. For the time being, there will no longer be any regularly appearing Corona graphics in the printed and digital edition of the newspaper.
The number of reports has not fully reflected the infection process for a long time. Only positive PCR test results are still included in the statistics. However, experts assume that fewer and fewer infected people are taking advantage of this examination. One reason is that it has become significantly more difficult to get a PCR test.
Of those who get tested, about twenty percent currently get a positive result. The World Health Organization once said that a positive rate of five percent would be desirable in order to keep the number of unreported cases small. If it is too high, meaningful statistics can hardly be created. Because people with a positive self-test are not registered.
There is no regular spot check. The monitoring of viruses in wastewater is mainly organized at regional level, so the data are only of limited value. The utilization of the intensive care units with Covid patients, on the other hand, remains a fairly reliable indicator. Fortunately, it is currently falling. Above all, the development of all numbers over a longer period of time continues to show the dynamics of an infection situation that is increasingly easing. The numbers on the corona virus therefore hardly have any influence on the everyday life of most people.
This does not mean that the SZ now considers the virus to be harmless. Covid-19 can continue to lead to serious illness and sometimes death. Nothing changed about that. But currently – at the transition to the endemic phase in many countries, in which the virus joins the many other seasonal pathogens in its importance – there is no longer a need for the regular presentation of the data on all SZ channels. Should the infection process become more threatening again, the graphics will also return to the SZ – both printed and digital.