Five years of the corona pandemic – this is the terrifying prognosis made by a virologist in the ARD talk with Sandra Maischberger. The moderator reacts horrified.
Berlin – What were the comparatively pleasant times when many may have thought optimistically in the first lockdown, grit their teeth for a few weeks and stay at home, Corona was safely ticked off. Now, almost two years later, there is still no end in sight to the corona pandemic. It is true that experts keep making predictions as to when this crisis could end; recently a Danish epidemiologist threw a remaining period of two months * into the room. Given that the vaccination rates are too low and the number of new coronavirus mutants, two months are likely to remain an unfulfilled hope.
The virologist Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff made a slightly edifying, but probably more realistic prognosis on Wednesday (January 12th, 2022) in the ARD talk with Sandra Maischberger: “We have to reckon for five years,” she replied to the question of when the pandemic is over, and cited a colleague who gave this estimate at a conference.
Maischberger on Corona forecast: “I don’t even know whether I can take so much truth”
“What?” Replied Maischberger, visibly surprised and probably spoke to many from the soul. “Well, we have two behind us,” said Rübsamen-Schaeff. And further explained: “Until the people and the virus have adapted a little better to each other, so until more people are a little more immune and the virus may not run away from the various measures as quickly.”
“I don’t even know whether I can handle so much truth at the beginning of the year,” commented a resigned Maischberger on the estimate. However, the virologist does not believe that the next three years will be determined by such strict measures as the past two. She expects “that we will be significantly further next winter”.
“Maischberger”: Virologist puts hope in corona drugs
Rübsamen-Schaeff sees a “game changer” in corona drugs such as Paxlovid, which the federal government has already bought as a precaution. If an infected person immediately takes a drug against Covid-19, the virus cannot spread in the body and cause damage.
The virologist estimates that the Omikron variant could bring us to the same order of magnitude as France – the country is currently struggling with 7-day incidence values of almost 3,000 and new infections in the 300,000 range every day. “I’m afraid we can’t avoid that. Omikron is the most contagious variant that we have seen so far with Corona, ”says Rübsamen-Schaeff.
Virologist at “Maischberger” on the corona pandemic: “Keep morgues free”
The expert believes that it is premature to relax measures or even to treat the coronavirus like the flu, as is planned in Spain. Instead, she referred to the need for vaccination and emphasized the safety and provenness of all approved corona vaccines. However, she made it clear: “If I am pursuing the goal of vaccination that no one is infected anymore: not attainable, according to all that we know today about the vaccines. Simply unreachable. ”It has been shown that the antibodies in vaccinated people last too short and the virus changes too quickly. It “runs away from vaccination protection, so to speak.”
“If I say I want to vaccinate, then the reason must be that I want to keep the hospitals free and I want to keep the morgues free,” said the virologist at Sandra Maischberger’s motivation for the vaccination. One wants to avoid severe courses and deaths, “which will certainly also come with Omikron”. (Ines Alberti) * hna.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
