Protection against Corona: How mortality in homes should decrease

Status: 06.10.2022 18:08

Anyone who lives in a retirement or nursing home should be better protected against infection with the corona virus. That is the content of a statement presented by Federal Minister of Health Lauterbach.

By Uwe Jahn, ARD Capital Studio Berlin

Mandatory masks, vaccination calls, hygiene concepts, mandatory tests – this is known in old people’s and nursing homes. Above all, what is new is that everyone involved more or less agrees with Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach this autumn. The SPD politician explained that he wanted to ensure that “the topic of corona does not become the topic that will determine the autumn” – not even in nursing homes.

New vaccines are to be used

The new vaccines should be used for this. Lauterbach explains: “If people in nursing homes have a fourth vaccination, their probability of dying is reduced by a further 90 percent compared to the third vaccination.”

Vaccination campaign instead of compulsory vaccination

Lauterbach says his ministry is planning a larger-scale vaccination campaign for the vaccines that work against the current virus variants. In the joint paper, however, there is no mention of the controversial institution-related vaccination requirement, but only of promoting the vaccinations to as many people as possible.

Paxlovid as another remedy

According to the Federal Minister of Health, another drug that is intended to reduce mortality in the homes compared to previous years is the drug Paxlovid. Lauterbach explains: If someone falls ill – for example in a nursing facility – and is treated with Paxlovid in good time, “the mortality rate drops by 80 percent”.

According to Lauterbach, the facilities should be allowed to stock up so that this drug becomes available quickly.

The obligation to wear a mask is rather left out

In the joint statement, the mask requirement in homes, as prescribed by Lauterbach in the Infection Protection Act, is only mentioned in passing. That’s no wonder – because the mask requirement is controversial.

The President of the German Nursing Council, Christine Vogler, advocated leaving such decisions to the respective nursing staff on site. For her it is clear: “Hygiene management is part of the nursing competence and we don’t need any laws that make regulations for us on the spot”. This is an example, according to Vogler, that the legislature has not yet recognized what professional care can do.

Pragmatism in terms of masks in homes?

In the meantime, health ministers from the federal states, for example from Bavaria, have also called for the mask requirement to be implemented carefully in homes.

Gernot Kiefer from the Central Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds recommends a pragmatic approach to the obligation to wear masks in homes. He advocates also seeing “the limits of it”. Kiefer explains: “Of course there are also residents who, so to speak, for reasons of their remaining skills, do not consistently practice this belief or lose it”. Then you should not immediately threaten with penalties.

Joint declaration on corona measures in homes

Uwe Jahn, ARD Berlin, 6.10.2022 4:59 p.m

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