A.As President of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler usually explains the current pandemic situation in a matter-of-fact, calm manner in talk shows, press conferences and similar roundtables. On Wednesday evening, a more emotional side of the 60-year-old could be seen. Wieler was a guest at an online discussion event with the Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU). And got straight to the point.
Before that, at the federal press conference, he had expressed himself “a little more cautiously” – but it was clear that of the more than 52,000 new infections reported on Wednesday morning, around 400 cases would be fatal that day. Wieler comes to this conclusion because the rate of reports about the deceased is now around 0.8 percent. So eight out of 1,000 infected people did not survive the disease. “That means that of these 52,000 (infected daily) there – and there is nothing left to be changed – 400 will die.”
This number does not even include a factor that Wieler had previously warned: “These 52,000 hide at least twice or three times as many (newly infected). We have to have that in mind too. ”
1200 corona deaths per day
According to his calculation, if the rate of new infections remained the same, up to 1200 people could die from infection with the virus in a few weeks instead of 400.
“What is important to me – everyone who listens now has to understand very clearly: There is nothing more that can be changed. We can’t change that anymore. These people are infected. ”Stricter measures can only prevent the numbers from continuing to move at this level. “It’s a bucket of water that has been poured out, you can’t get it in,” said Wieler.
“I hope that a lot will be done. This helps that there will be fewer in the future. But all of them – 400 of them will die in the next few weeks – nobody can change anything anymore. Not with the best medical care. The child fell into the well (…). We can only look ahead that we hope that everything will get better. “
“As you can see, the prognoses are extremely bleak. You are really gloomy “
The situation in the hospitals is also getting worse and worse, according to Wieler. “We have never been as worried as we are now,” said the RKI boss. The number of seriously ill Covid patients is increasing, and people with a stroke and other seriously ill people have to search for a free intensive care bed for up to two hours in some places. “The supply is already no longer in accordance with the rule in all federal states.” And that will increase.
“As you can see, the prognoses are extremely bleak. They are really dark, ”said Wieler. “There is an emergency in our country. If you don’t see that, you’re making a very big mistake. ”
The RKI made very clear recommendations for action at an early stage and warned that the fourth wave could clearly surpass all previous ones if no “population-related measures” were taken and the vaccination rate did not increase significantly. In fact, the modeled scenarios have now arrived.
Wieler accused politics of serious errors and omissions. “We opened too quickly in too many areas,” he criticized. “Clubs and bars are hotspots, from my point of view they have to be closed.” Major events would have to be canceled. There are far too many contacts among the population, and they already know from the first corona wave that contact restrictions are effective.
“We are in an emergency”
At the same time, Wieler pleaded for the consistent implementation of 2G rules, i.e. access to many areas only for vaccinated and convalescent people. “We really mustn’t give those who don’t get vaccinated the chance to bypass the vaccination, for example by getting tested,” he said. In order to increase the vaccination rate, vaccination should also be carried out in pharmacies.
“I’ll be very clear: It must now be the end of the story that someone does not allow any other professional group to vaccinate due to any circumstances. We are in an emergency, ”emphasized Wieler. “Every man and mouse who can vaccinate should kindly vaccinate now. Otherwise we won’t get this crisis under control. “
Wieler called on politics to finally act. “We don’t have to keep inventing something new. All of these concepts and recipes are in place, ”he said. “That is a clear language, but after 21 months I simply can no longer bear the fact that it may not be recognized what I say, among other things, and also many other colleagues.”
“Will really have a very bad Christmas if we don’t act now”
The infection process can be slowed down by increasing the rate of vaccination. Syringes should therefore also be used in pharmacies. “We are in an emergency, and in an emergency you have to be generous with certain things,” said Wieler. Therefore, he is very clear that pharmacists, among other things, should vaccinate.
The booster vaccinations are extensive. “The faster the vaccination, the better.” Every low-threshold offer is needed, “otherwise we won’t get this crisis under control”.