Germany is experiencing the “pandemic of the unvaccinated”. The term is controversial, in politics, among virologists, in the population. Can’t vaccinated people also transmit the virus? Are there not breakthroughs in impulses? Isn’t regular testing enough?
However, the numbers are pretty straightforward: the seven-day incidence among those who have been vaccinated is far lower than that among those who have not been vaccinated. Bavaria has an incidence of unvaccinated people that is ten times higher, Saxony almost fifteen times. In Hamburg the difference is more than twenty times.
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Are the unwilling to vaccinate, the ignorant, the refusal to drive Germany into an even more difficult situation than last winter? One thing should be noted here: The high incidences in unvaccinated people are also due to the very high number of cases among younger people who are generally not vaccinated (children) or, to a lesser extent, such as adolescents up to 18 years of age.
According to the figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the incidence of infections is highest nationwide among children between the ages of five and 14, with an incidence of 532 per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days. From the age of 60, for older people with a high proportion of vaccinated, it is 144. In the regions with extremely high incidences across all age groups – Saxony, Thuringia, Bavaria – the high number of cases is largely due to unvaccinated adults.
In general, the following applies: In the federal states with higher vaccination rates, the situation is generally less tense than in the three high incidence states of Saxony, Thuringia and Bavaria. This is especially true for Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Bremen. As has always been the case since the beginning of the pandemic, the regional infection rate has varied, but it has seldom been as far apart as it is now.
New plans in the Bundestag
From this Monday on, the Bundestag will be concerned with how strong the fight against the pandemic is carried out in Germany with conditions for unvaccinated people. Even before the formation of a government, the SPD, Greens and FDP agreed in parliament on an amendment to the Infection Protection Act.
The fact that the traffic light parties are also assuming a pandemic for the unvaccinated is shown by the wording of the draft law and the rationale. “Vaccinated and convalescent people are infected less often and are therefore less likely to be carriers of the coronavirus,” reads there. “In addition, if they are infected despite the vaccination, they are infectious for a significantly shorter period of time. The risk posed by those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered is significantly lower. ”
Further texts on the corona pandemic:
According to the RKI, the risk of those who have not been vaccinated to contract the coronavirus is only two to three times greater than that of those who have been vaccinated. But contagion is less of a problem – it is also inevitable in a pandemic.
The main problem is that unvaccinated adults run a much higher risk of becoming seriously ill and thus ending up in the clinic or even in an intensive care unit – in contrast to the boys who are much less affected by this. According to the RKI, this risk is ten to twenty times higher compared to immunized patients.
3G mandatory in companies
It remains to be seen whether the measures that are to come will also work. 3G will soon be mandatory in companies, such as in Italy. This means that employers and employees can only come to the company if they have a vaccination document, proof of recovery or a rapid test that is 24 hours old. If a PCR test that is no longer than 48 hours old is available, that is also sufficient.
Tests should usually be carried out by a third party or under supervision. Controls by employers are mandatory. In hospitals, old people’s homes and other care facilities, there should be a general obligation to test, also for vaccinated staff or visitors.
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Tests are undoubtedly helpful, but always have a problem: If the PCR tests are not relatively safe, the risk of infection is higher at events or in companies due to incorrect rapid tests – “the more unvaccinated people, the higher the probability,” writes it RKI.
Home office, but also 2G plus?
In addition, the obligation for employers to enable home office work is reintroduced – unless there are operational reasons, for example in work organization, that prevent this. Employees are also obliged to accept the offer, unless there are reasons that do not allow it – narrow apartments, interference from third parties, inadequate equipment.
The 2G-plus regulation proposed by the Executive Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) on Friday should also be made possible by law. It means that in certain cases, even vaccinated or convalescent people can only access events or rooms with a current test.
Bavaria would like this to be explicitly allowed for discotheques as well. Whether “2G plus” is legally tenable remains to be seen – as always, proportionality is what counts. The simple 2G regulation already planned in Berlin and elsewhere is not affected by the plans at federal level.
