The Greens health expert Janosch Dahmen warned in an interview that there could be a dangerous combination of a flu and corona wave in autumn. As a doctor, he was “very concerned”. Dahmen also called for the corona data to be collected more precisely.
The health expert of the Greens, Janosch Dahmen, has agreed with Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) that there could be a dangerous combination of a flu and corona wave in autumn. “Absolutely he has a legitimate point,” said Dahmen on RTL / ntv’s “Frühstart” program, adding: “Especially as a doctor, I’m very worried. If we look at the southern hemisphere, where autumn has just started, then in Australia, for example, we see a really dramatic wave of flu spreading there.”
Dahmen said that in Germany one had to expect that influenza viruses could spread parallel to new coronavirus strains in autumn: “And in combination could simply lead to a lot of respiratory diseases and possibly severe courses and thus also put a heavy burden on our healthcare system.” In this context, Dahmen recommended, in addition to a Covid vaccination, also a vaccination against flu viruses: “Only that will help that the situation does not spread as much as we are seeing in Australia right now.”
He also called for more accurate collection of corona data. The criticism of the federal government that not enough has been done to this end is justified: “We cannot duck away from this, we have to accept this criticism,” said Dahmen. With a view to autumn, it is “very crucial” that precise data can be collected on how heavy the burden in the healthcare system is and how many beds are available: “Not only in the intensive care units, but also in the normal wards. So it is very important to collect relevant data on a daily basis,” says Dahmen. In this context, the Green politician demanded: “This must now be prepared at full throttle over the summer so that we have meaningful information about it in the fall.”
In addition, many employees in German health authorities are “burned out”, says Dahmen. Here, too, there must be another “offensive” with the federal states and municipalities: “Of course, we still need up-to-date data in order to be able to control the pandemic management in a really specific and adapted manner. It won’t work without that.” According to Dahmen, ensuring better data collection is also the task of the next federal-state meetings.
