The third cold season marked by the pandemic is upon us. The virologist Drosten fears that there will be a strong corona wave before December. Politicians should prepare for this. In addition, the virologist assumes that there will be many sick leave.
The virologist Christian Drosten expects a strong corona wave before December. Even if the courses were easier, this would probably lead to significant work losses, warned the director of virology at the Charité in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. New virus variants made people sicker again, so that many people could not go to work at all, regardless of isolation regulations. “Infected people may not come to the hospital, but many are sick for a week. If there are too many at once, it becomes a problem,” said Drosten of the SZ.
Politicians must make better preparations, according to the Corona expert. Stronger measures would certainly be necessary again, such as the obligation to wear a mask indoors. “Before so many people get sick that you can’t buy anything anymore, that the hospitals don’t work anymore or there are no police officers at the station, you have to take measures,” said Drosten. He called on politicians to already prepare data collections that should be evaluated at certain dates and to work out a consensus “on which signals one wants to act and how”. The political process must be optimized, said Drosten, “because in an emergency, immediate and quite drastic decisions are needed.”
But political decision-makers should now work towards a consensus on which signals to act on and how. You should set an appointment now for a location assessment, during which you will review prepared data from all sources – for example how the situation is with the absence from work and the situation from the point of view of health insurance companies, associations and other institutions. That could be prepared now.
He also advised the economy to prepare for a wave of illness with deputy regulations and team building. “I also assume that there will definitely be companies that have to close for two weeks.”
The population will probably do the contact reduction themselves. “When people notice that people are getting sick all around them, they might not go out in the evenings after all.” In contrast to previous waves, when measures were necessary because of the full intensive care units and the deaths with incidences of 50, people would find out about many cases of illness in the environment in the expected high incidences in autumn and winter in their circle of acquaintances and at work, that would change that Behavior.
