Will Germany soon be in the fifth wave because of Omikron? A doctor emphasizes the danger of the corona variant, but expects the number of cases to fall.
Kassel – The Corona situation* is getting worse in Germany: The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has reported tens of thousands of new infections and hundreds of deaths in the past few days. Meanwhile, some politicians and virologists are certain that the fifth wave is inevitable due to the omicron variant*.
The doctor and medical journalist Dr. However, Christoph Specht sees no reason to worry. According to him, the number of cases could soon fall significantly. However, one should move away from the incidences as a leading indicator.
Corona pandemic in Germany: Expert criticizes incidence as a benchmark
“We have to stop really only considering this incidence,” said Specht in an interview with ntv.de. After all, the previous figures cannot be compared with the current ones. According to the doctor, this is not possible within Germany or beyond the country. It has long since ceased to be an important point of reference, as the incidence used to be. Six months ago, the government was aware that the corona incidence alone would not help, “now we’re doing exactly the same thing again.” That was a mistake.
According to Specht, it’s not about becoming completely virus-free. “If we were to test for other viruses, including those that have been with us for a long time, then we would always have positive test numbers in the population,” said the doctor. Therefore, it is “in principle not bad” to live with viruses. From now on, the corona virus will also be a companion of human life. “We now have a chance to enter that phase.”
Will the situation improve in spring? Doctors expect falling corona numbers
Specht also emphasized that the omicron mutant should not be underestimated. Although Omicron is attributed to rather mild and corona-atypical symptoms*, “people will continue to die from it in the future.” That was the case with other viral infections and will continue to be the case in the future, “just not on the scale that we have seen so far new studies show, among other things, that the highly contagious corona variant omicron can also spread unnoticed.
Despite the current increase in the number of corona cases, the medical journalist predicts that the situation in Germany will soon be more relaxed. The tide will turn in spring. “I even expect that the omicron numbers will fall significantly in the next two to three weeks,” said Specht. (Alina Schröder) *hna.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
