The 7-day incidence is the basis for many corona restrictions in the corona pandemic in Germany. A Swiss suggests another way. But there is a problem.
Berlin – The incidence has been under scrutiny for a long time. The value as the basis for corona measures does not adequately reflect the infection rate in Germany, some say. The Swiss epidemiologist Christian Althaus is now going one step further and proposing a threshold value.
Swiss epidemiologist Christian Althaus recommends that the number of hospital admissions should be given greater consideration for tightening corona measures. One could orientate oneself on Switzerland, where 120 daily new admissions of Covid 19 patients serve as threshold value for further measures.
Swiss researchers suggest 12,000 as a threshold
“In Germany, that would be a factor of 10 higher, so around twelve hundred hospitalizations per day as the threshold,” said the expert at an event at the Science Media Center on Tuesday.
According to the epidemiologist, many European countries are currently entering a phase in which many people have already been fully vaccinated, but the virus is still likely to spread more widely.
“At some point the incidence will be relatively high,” says Althaus. For the time being, however, it is still difficult to estimate how much this will affect the health system. An up-to-date and reliable database is important for such an assessment, emphasized the expert from the University of Bern.
Germany counts Covid patients twice
For Reinhard Busse, the head of the Department of Healthcare Management at the TU Berlin, this is exactly where the crux of the matter lies. One problem is that in Germany the DIVI intensive register collects case-related – and not personal – data.
“A patient who is transferred from one hospital to the other counts twice, and that happens relatively often with Covid patients,” said Busse.
According to the modeler Andreas Schuppert from RWTH Aachen University, it is high time to get good and reliable data. Until then, the 7-day incidence will continue to offer a good orientation, said Schuppert, who, like Busse and Althaus, took part in the Science Media Center event . (Dpa) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
