RKI reports new maximum incidence value – policy

The nationwide seven-day incidence has reached the highest value since the beginning of the corona pandemic. The Robert Koch Institute stated the number of confirmed cases per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Monday morning as 201.1. The previous maximum value was reached at the height of the second corona wave on December 22nd, 2020 with 197.6. The previous day the incidence was 191.5, a week ago it was 154.8 (previous month: 63.8). The health authorities in Germany reported 15,513 new corona infections to the RKI within one day. Exactly a week ago the value was 9658 infections.

According to the new information, 33 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. A week ago there were 23 deaths. The number of corona patients admitted to clinics per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days was last given by the RKI on Friday at 3.91 (Thursday: 3.73). The previous high was around 15.5 around Christmas 2020.

Unlike last winter, many people are now vaccinated, and the vaccination rate is high, especially among the particularly endangered very old people. Experts therefore assume that the health system can now withstand more new infections than before the vaccinations, as these protect very well against the course of serious illnesses. However, critical care physicians are concerned about the rapid rise in incidence in recent days. (08.11.2021)

The number of corona intensive care patients could soon double

Doctors fear a doubling of the corona patients in intensive care units. Christian Karagiannidis, scientific director of the intensive care register of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Intensive Care, said already now, with almost 2500 cases, as many corona patients would have to be cared for in the intensive care units as at the same point in time a year ago with the second corona wave Emergency Medicine (Divi), the Augsburger Allgemeine. In the coming weeks, the number is expected to almost double if the new infections continue to rise as before. “With an incidence of 300, we expect around 4500 Covid patients nationwide with large regional differences,” warned Karagiannidis.

Bavaria’s Minister of Health Klaus Holetschek warned: “A further doubling would be numerically well above the maximum values ​​of the past waves and our health system in Germany would no longer be able to cope with it.” The CSU politician sees one of the main causes in the low vaccination rate. “In Bavaria, too, the unvaccinated in particular flood our hospitals. More than 90 percent of these are patients who have turned down the chance of a vaccination to this day,” said Holetschek.

Intensive care physician Karagiannidis believes it is difficult to make long-term predictions about the course of the pandemic. Based on the incidences, one can predict relatively clearly what will happen in the coming weeks. “What we can’t predict is at what level it will stall,” he said. It is unclear what effect 2-G rules and booster vaccinations have or whether the population is changing their behavior. (08.11.2021)

Teachers’ Association warns of loss of control over virus in schools

In view of the rising number of corona infections, the German Teachers Association warns of a loss of control over the pandemic in schools. “There are terrifying incidences in the group of children and adolescents,” said association president Heinz-Peter Meidinger to the editorial network Germany. The risk of losing control over it is immense.

Meidinger pleaded for continuing to adhere to the mask requirement: “I think it is extremely worrying if the federal states, contrary to the recommendation of the Robert Koch Institute, say goodbye to the requirement to wear a mask in schools, although the infections among school children are going through the roof.” Studies have shown that the mask requirement makes schools safer. Those responsible in the countries should not put their own political wishes above scientific expertise, warned the association president. (08.11.2021)

Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg shortly before the highest corona alert level

In Bavaria the so-called hospital traffic light applies, Baden-Württemberg differentiates between basic, warning and alert levels. The two southern federal states have in common that the highest level will soon be reached and residents will have to be prepared for drastic tightening of restrictions.

The traffic light jumps in Bavaria red in 600 intensive care patients with a corona infection. On Sunday morning, the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 591 patients on their joint homepage. On Friday it was 537, on Saturday 552.

When the traffic light is red, the 2-G rule will be significantly expanded throughout the Free State. In many companies, employees only have access to the workplace if they have been vaccinated or have recovered. That applies to social life anyway.

The Bavarian hospital traffic light has been yellow since Sunday. This means that the 3-G plus rule applies in inns and at events in closed rooms, i.e. vaccinated, recovered or PCR-tested. A rapid antigen test is then no longer sufficient. Exceptions apply to universities, extracurricular educational offers and libraries and archives – a rapid test is still sufficient for unvaccinated people. The mask standard is generally increased to FFP2. There are no new restrictions for trade and public transport. All students have to wear masks in class again from Monday.

Many Bavarian regions are “regional hotspots” anyway, and the stricter rules are already in place there.

Also in Baden-Wuerttemberg The Corona alert level can be expected soon. With a view to current forecasts and model calculations of the University of Freiburg, it is assumed that the alarm level could possibly be called by the end of the week, “in any case” but in mid-November, said a ministry spokeswoman in Stuttgart on Sunday. At the moment the so-called warning level still applies there.

The state’s Corona regulation provides for the 2-G rule nationwide for the alert level, for example in restaurants, museums, exhibitions or most public events. Many unvaccinated people would then no longer have the opportunity to participate in public life in many areas. Exceptions would apply to children and pregnant women as well as people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. (07.11.2021)

Austria: 2 G should apply until 2022

In Austria, in view of the record high number of new infections, the corona measures that have just been tightened will probably apply beyond Christmas and the turn of the year. Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg does not assume that the situation is such that the measures can be withdrawn. “Well, it will probably be a 2-G Christmas,” he said Kronen newspaper. Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler added: “Most likely we will still have 2 Gs for Christmas and New Year’s Eve.”

Austria currently records almost 10,000 new infections every day and only responded a few days ago by announcing a nationwide 2-G obligation. From Monday onwards, only those who have been vaccinated and recovered are allowed to visit restaurants, hotels, cultural institutions and sports facilities – the ski lifts in the winter sports region are also reserved for them.

After the announcement of the measure on Friday, the waiting time in Vienna’s largest vaccination street increased to one and a half hours. In the Salzburger Land, almost 1,400 people spontaneously picked up a spade on Saturday without an appointment – in the previous weeks it had only been 2,000 per week. The rush was also high in other regions such as Vorarlberg.

Around a third of Austrians are still not immunized, and the low vaccination rate is the main reason that Austria’s hospitals and their intensive care units have had to treat more and more Covid patients in the past week. (07.11.2021)

More willingness to vaccinate through stricter rules

In Greece, the number of weekly first vaccinations against the coronavirus has almost doubled since the government passed tougher rules for people without vaccination protection. In the first week of November, according to a report in the daily newspaper Kathimerini more than 40,000 people inject for the first time. In the last week of October there were about 25,000 people.

Since Saturday, unvaccinated people have only been allowed to visit public institutions if they present a negative test. This even applies to visits to the authorities. The only exceptions are supermarkets and pharmacies. In addition, unvaccinated workers have to present two negative tests per week.

The measures are strictly controlled. The government has also assigned around 8,000 police officers. According to the police, there were around 85,000 controls nationwide on Saturday alone. The officials imposed hundreds of fines. Several restaurants were temporarily closed. For unvaccinated guests without a current test, there were fines of 300 euros each. (07.11.2021)

More and more attacks on doctors by opponents of vaccinations

Opponents of vaccination are less and less afraid of verbal or physical violence against doctors. This ranged from defamatory reviews on the Internet to verbal abuse over the phone and email to death threats like that Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported. In the Süddeutsche Zeitung tell six employees of a Bavarian clinic in a corona hotspot about violent unvaccinated people. There are also more and more lateral thinkers among the patients in the intensive care unit, some of whom are also hostile to the doctors and nurses; the psychological and physical strain on medical staff is enormous.

The Federal Criminal Police Office estimates “vaccination opponents or corona deniers” as a “relevant risk” in connection with attacks on vaccination centers or medical practices. For the “staff working there there is a risk of being exposed to at least verbal hostility and even criminal offenses” such as bodily harm, said the Federal Criminal Police Office. Exact numbers are not yet available. In many cases, however, the state security is investigating.

The President of the German Medical Association, Klaus Reinhardt, confirmed the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung the threat situation. He explained that the development was part of a “hystericalization of society” from which the medical staff in the doctor’s offices must now suffer. Ulrich Weigeldt, chairman of the German Association of General Practitioners, complained that people critical of vaccinations in particular increasingly perceive medical practices as an “instrument of politics”. (06.11.2021)