Despite the low corona incidence, many experts and politicians are worried about autumn. The delta variant is spreading and particularly endangers unvaccinated children and adolescents.
The Corona situation seems relaxed overall – in view of the spread of the more contagious Delta variant, however, the focus is already on the start of school after the summer holidays.
Many schoolchildren will then still be unvaccinated because no vaccinations have yet been approved for the younger ones and the Standing Vaccination Commission only recommends them to a limited extent for older children and adolescents.
Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock is therefore calling for massive investments to arm all schools against the virus. “An air filter system must be made available for every classroom in this country,” she told the newspapers of the Funke media group and the French newspaper “Ouest-France”. «Yes, it costs money. But I do not accept that we will find ourselves in a situation again where some of the children have to study from home just because no provision has been made. ”
In her own words, the virologist Melanie Brinkmann believes that every classroom throughout Germany has an individually tailored ventilation system until after the holidays is an illusion. The professor from the Braunschweig Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) is in favor of wearing masks and the increased use of so-called lollipop tests or gargle tests – instead of the less precise rapid antigen tests. “That saves costs and can be evaluated using PCR,” she explained to the editorial network in Germany. That is very effective if it happens regularly. Lolli tests and gargle tests can also be taken in groups and evaluated all at once; individual retesting is only necessary if the result is positive. “The Delta variant will rush through schools very quickly after the summer holidays if we don’t take precautions,” warned Brinkmann.
Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder called on the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) to urgently consider when they would recommend vaccinating young people. «The most effective means against the Delta variant is the school vaccination. Especially in the younger age groups, the incidence figures are highest, ”said the CSU head of“ Bild am Sonntag ”. So far, from the point of view of the Vaccination Commission, the database on children has been too small for a general vaccination recommendation – and the risk of possible secondary effects for them is greater than that of a corona disease with a severe course.
For adults, however, the vaccination campaign is in full swing. More than 37 percent are fully vaccinated. The federal government has promised that all adults willing to be vaccinated will be offered a vaccination by the end of the month, but the actual appointment could then be later.
The corona incidence yesterday morning was below 5 for the first time in around eleven months. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) put the nationwide value at 4.9 (previous day 5.0; previous week 5.9). Most recently, the value was 4.8 below the 5 threshold on July 30, 2020.
However, two other corona values draw attention: According to the RKI management report on Friday evening, the nationwide seven-day R value was 1.00 (previous day 0.92). This means that an infected person infects another person on average. According to RKI data, it was last above 1.00 in April. It reached its low since then at 0.68 in June – after which it rose relatively quickly.
The number of new infections is also remarkable, although no trend can be read from it: The health authorities reported 671 infections within one day, as can be seen from the RKI dashboard from Saturday morning (5:01 a.m.). For the first time since June 2, this value was higher than exactly a week earlier. For comparison: a week ago the number was 592 new infections.
The proportion of the delta variant in new infections has risen rapidly within a few weeks. The RKI assumes that around half of the infections are now caused by the variant from India.
Despite the ongoing vaccination campaign, a large majority of Germans expect the number of corona infections to rise and new government restrictions in the autumn. In a survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the German Press Agency, 76 percent said that they expected an increase in the number of infections. 74 percent assume that measures against the pandemic will be tightened in autumn. Only 16 percent believe that there will be no new restrictions. Ten percent gave no information.
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