The RKI reports 59,506 new corona infections in Germany on Friday. Thus, the nationwide 7-day incidence is 432.2. There is criticism of the new Corona rules from Lauterbach and Buschmann. It is now possible to write sick notes by phone again. You can find all the news here in the Corona ticker on FOCUS online.
7:22 a.m .: Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach has been infected with the corona virus. The 59-year-old tested positive on Thursday evening, his ministry said early Friday morning. He is doing well, he only has mild symptoms and is temporarily taking his official business out of domestic isolation. According to his ministry, Lauterbach has been vaccinated four times.
“This shows that with the highly contagious omicron variant, infection cannot be completely ruled out, even with extreme caution,” the ministry wrote. The minister therefore once again appeals to everyone to behave prudently and to ensure adequate vaccination protection so that infections and severe courses can be prevented as far as possible. Lauterbach (SPD) repeatedly warns of the corona virus and possibly highly contagious variants that can still occur.
Surf tip: Minister of Health – Karl Lauterbach: What you should know about the permanent warning
Friday, August 5, 2022, 6:10 a.m .: The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the nationwide seven-day incidence on Friday morning as 432.2. This is evident from numbers that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 5 a.m. The day before, the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week was 451.3 (previous week: 607.0; previous month: 687.7). However, this information only provides a very incomplete picture of the number of infections. Experts have been assuming for some time that there will be a large number of cases not recorded by the RKI – mainly because by far not all infected people have a PCR test done. Only positive PCR tests count in the statistics. In addition, late registrations or transmission problems can lead to a distortion of individual daily values.
The health authorities in Germany recently reported 59,506 new corona infections (previous week: 84,798) and 165 deaths (previous week: 153) to the RKI within one day. Here, too, comparisons of the data are only possible to a limited extent due to the test behavior, late registrations or transmission problems. In general, the number of registered new infections and deaths varies significantly from weekday to weekday, since many federal states do not transmit them to the RKI, especially at weekends, and report their cases later in the week.
The RKI has counted 31,178,705 infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic. The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections go undetected.
1.55 p.m .: In view of the increasing number of corona infections, it is now possible to take sick leave by telephone again. It is initially valid until November 30, as the Joint Federal Committee of Doctors, Health Insurance Companies and Hospitals (G-BA) announced on Thursday in Berlin. This means that patients with mild respiratory diseases do not have to come to the doctor’s office, but can use the telephone. A sick note over the phone is valid for up to seven days. It can be extended once for up to a further seven days.
The number of corona infections has risen again, explained the G-BA chairman Josef Hecken. “At the same time, we have cold and flu season ahead of us in the coming months.”
With the reinstatement of the telephone sick note, the G-BA is following the guiding principle “caution instead of unnecessary risks”, it said. In this way, full waiting rooms in medical practices and the emergence of new chains of infection should be avoided. The rule is necessary because video consultation hours are not yet offered everywhere.
The telephone sick leave expired after two years on June 1 due to the falling number of infections. However, even then, the G-BA reserved the right to resume the case. the instrument was first introduced in spring 2020 and has been extended several times.
7.18 a.m .: After the traffic light coalition agreed on a new infection protection law, the German Medical Association called for nationwide measures in the event of an impending overload of the medical infrastructure due to the corona pandemic. “It is important that in the future uniform measures are taken throughout Germany if certain, clearly defined criteria are met,” said Doctor President Klaus Reinhardt to the newspapers of the Funke media group on Thursday.
The corona protection concept for autumn and winter presented by the traffic light government on Wednesday remains “unfortunately still vague”. At the same time, the medical president expressly welcomed the fact that the pandemic concept was “finally formulated with consideration for our children”. The refusal by the Federal Minister of Health to close schools due to the pandemic is particularly important. Children and young people have so far been the main victims of the protective measures. The consequences are educational deficits, developmental disorders and a significant increase in mental illnesses. Everything must be done to ensure that schools and daycare centers remain open, said Reinhardt.
The German Teachers’ Association welcomed the fact that, according to the plans of the traffic light coalition, the federal states can again impose a mask requirement in schools – but criticizes a regulatory gap in primary schools. “We welcome the fact that the federal states can, if necessary – in order to be able to maintain face-to-face operations in the event of a violent wave of infection – make masks compulsory in secondary schools,” said the President of the Teachers’ Association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, to the newspapers of the editorial network Germany (RND).
“However, it is absolutely incomprehensible why in the same case, i.e. to maintain school operations, a mask requirement cannot be ordered at primary schools.” That is incomprehensible.
The board of directors of the German Foundation for Patient Protection, Eugen Brysch, meanwhile criticized exceptions to mandatory tests in nursing homes in the RND newspapers. “The federal government wants to protect those in need of care better than in the previous winters. In practice, however, there can be no question of that.” Freshly vaccinated and recovered employees and visitors will no longer have to be tested in the future – “although it must now be clear to everyone that vaccinated and recovered people also pass on the virus,” said Brysch.
Thursday, August 4, 2022, 6:51 a.m .: The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the nationwide seven-day incidence on Thursday morning as 451.3. This is evident from numbers that reflect the status of the RKI dashboard at 5 a.m. The day before, the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week was 477.9 (previous week: 630.4; previous month: 650.7). However, this information only provides a very incomplete picture of the number of infections. Experts have been assuming for some time that there will be a large number of cases not recorded by the RKI – mainly because by far not all infected people have a PCR test done. Only positive PCR tests count in the statistics. In addition, late registrations or transmission problems can lead to a distortion of individual daily values.
The health authorities in Germany recently reported 74,645 new corona infections (previous week: 104,126) and 192 deaths (previous week: 157) to the RKI within one day. Here, too, comparisons of the data are only possible to a limited extent due to the test behavior, late registrations or transmission problems. In general, the number of registered new infections and deaths varies significantly from weekday to weekday, since many federal states do not transmit them to the RKI, especially at weekends, and report their cases later in the week.
The RKI has counted 31,119,199 infections with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic. The actual total number is likely to be significantly higher, as many infections go undetected.
5 p.m .: Virologist Hendrik Streeck criticizes the federal government’s new plans for the Infection Protection Act in the “Welt-Interview”. “I’m kind of wondering what that’s supposed to look like,” he said. Above all, the corona expert is unsure whether the federal government is acting correctly with regard to state policy. The reason: There are no clear guidelines as to how and when the individual state governments should react to infection situations. There are fears that different measures will be spread across the state like patchwork quilts for the third time in a row. In addition, there could be an outbidding competition. The background is that the federal states can take individual and optional measures in the new draft.
Streeck also criticized the planned mask requirement in schools. Studies are “in disagreement as to whether compulsory masks in schools have any effect at all,” said the virologist. Streeck also pointed out that the children also meet privately, then do not wear masks and keep their distance even less than at school.
2.36 p.m .: The state government in Baden-Württemberg has expressed disappointment with the federal government’s new draft for the Infection Protection Act. “We would have hoped for more from the draft, since the decisive means, namely a comprehensive toolbox for the federal states, is not provided,” said Minister of Health Manne Lucha (Greens) of the German Press Agency in Stuttgart. The draft falls short of the country’s expectations.
Lucha criticized that it was not possible to introduce so-called 2G or 3G restrictions or contact restrictions in private and public spaces in extreme cases when the infection situation worsened.
The minister also asked whether it would make sense to allow exceptions to a possible mask requirement indoors for vaccinated and recovered people if they could also be contagious. “We hope that we will not need anything except for basic measures next autumn and winter, but in case of an emergency we must be able to act quickly and without hesitation,” said Lucha.
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