Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) wants to delete the 50 incidence as a guide. For those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered, there should be no lockdown at all in the fall.
Germany – Since Monday (23 August), the 3G rule has been in effect nationwide from an incidence of 35. In concrete terms, this means: Anyone who meets in public indoor spaces must be vaccinated, recovered or tested. Jens Spahn (CDU), on the other hand, wants to remove the 50s incidence, which was previously relevant for many restrictions, from the law. Instead, a new factor will be decisive, reports RUHR24. *
| Coronavirus | SARS-CoV-2 |
| Infectious disease | Covid-19 |
| common symptoms | Cough, fever, runny nose, loss of smell and taste |
The 3G rule applies nationwide – the Federal Minister of Health rules out lockdown for vaccinated people
The obligation to test for unvaccinated people with a corona incidence of 35 or more applies, for example, to visits to restaurants, hairdressers or swimming pools. North Rhine-Westphalia is currently particularly affected. Because here the incidence is everywhere above the value of 35 – nationwide it even exceeded the critical value of 100 on Monday (23 August) *. Those who have been vaccinated or recovered have a clear advantage here in everyday life.
Nationwide there will no longer be any massive restrictions for those who have been vaccinated or recovered. The Federal Minister of Health emphasized on Monday (23 August) that he was fundamentally ruling out a lockdown for these groups of people
Jens Spahn (CDU): The 50s incidence has served its purpose as a Corona benchmark
The minister expressed his point of view in relation to the ARD-Tagesthemen : “With the Delta variant, we can safely get through autumn and winter when many are vaccinated and we have the 3G principle in the interior”.
As long as no new virus variant spreads against which the vaccinations did not work – which is currently not emerging – vaccinated and convalescent people would therefore not have to expect a lockdown. It is also clear, Spahn continues, that the 50s incidence as a benchmark, as it is currently in the law, has had its day. Because this was “an incidence value for an unvaccinated population” (more news on the coronavirus in NRW * on RUHR24).
Corona turnaround: hospital occupancy will be the new benchmark
The legal requirement that authorities must enforce corona restrictions from an incidence of 50 or more will no longer exist in the future. According to the Bild report, the Corona cabinet has even already agreed that the incidence values that have been relevant to date (e.g. 35, 50, 100) should soon be completely deleted. Instead, the hospital burden will become the measure of all things.
According to Spahns, however, the occupancy of the intensive care units should not be the decisive factor, but the hospital occupancy as a whole. After all, Covid 19 patients would also be on the normal wards. By taking into account the patients in the normal wards, one can also react earlier to the infection process.
Previously, several experts had expressed concerns that using the intensive care unit as a guideline would chase the incidence of infections, as high incidences always led to increased intensive care bed occupancy only two weeks later.
Hospitalization is the new Corona standard – but Spahn remains vague
In concrete terms, what has been said means: The new benchmark will be hospitalization, i.e. the number of corona patients newly admitted to the hospital. This is a “value between intensive and incidence,” explains Spahn.
When asked by the ARD presenter Caren Miosga where the specific warning threshold lay, i.e. from which hospital load there would be further restrictions, the minister replied evasively. For example, schools shouldn’t close at all.
The declared goal, however, is to achieve an even higher vaccination rate in order to be able to bypass further measures in autumn and winter entirely. “We are vaccinating Germany back to freedom,” said Jens Spahn (CDU). * RUHR24 is part of the IPPEN.MEDIA editorial network.
Headline list image: © Michele Tantussi / Reuters / Pool / dpa
