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COVID-19 STATS

‘Difficult weeks ahead,’ warns German Health Minister on Omicron fears

German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach warned on Sunday that Germany faces a high death toll and major impact on hospital treatment in the current wave of Covid cases with the highly contagious Omicron variant.

Published: 16 January 2022 10:35 CET
Karl Lauterbach (SPD), Federal Minister of Health, comments on the current Corona situation at the Federal Press Conference. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Kay Nietfeld
Karl Lauterbach (SPD), Federal Minister of Health, comments on the current Corona situation at the Federal Press Conference. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Kay Nietfeld

“We are facing very difficult weeks in Germany,” Lauterbach told Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

“We must not lull ourselves into a false sense of security in view of the currently falling hospital numbers, especially in intensive care units,” he added.

Pointing out that most cases were currently being recorded among younger people, he said that hospital admissions would rise again when older Germans contract the latest variant of the virus.

“Depending on how things develop, we may face shortages not only in the intensive care units, but also in the normal wards. There is a threat of entire departments being closed,” Lauterbach warned.

“Rapid spread of the virus would mean hundreds of thousands will become seriously ill and we will have to mourn many thousands of deaths again,” he said.

New record in case numbers

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported another peak in the seven-day incidence of cases on Sunday morning.

The number of new cases per 100,000 people and week broke the 500 barrier for the first time since the start of the pandemic, rising to 515.7.

Health authorities in Germany reported 52,504 new infections to the RKI within one day.

“We are already seeing this increase in normal wards in some regions, for example in Bremen, Berlin, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein,” the president of the German Hospital Association, Gerald Gaß, told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.

“In contrast to previous waves, patients will probably arrive in normal wards more frequently in the coming weeks, as the probability of having a severe course is lower with Omicron,” he added.

Omicron is a ‘chance’

Germany’s most respected coronavirus expert, Christian Drosten, told a newspaper the milder Omicron variant of the coronavirus is an “chance” to get into the endemic state of the disease.

“It would be a chance now, assuming broad immunity,” Drosten told Tagesspiegel newspaper.

“In the long run, we can’t keep immunising the whole population every few months via a booster vaccination. That’s what the virus has to do,” he said.

“The virus has to spread, but it has to do so on the basis of a vaccination protection that is anchored in the broad population – otherwise too many people would die.”

READ MORE: What documents do you need to carry for Germany’s 2G-plus restrictions?

Member comments

    1. Dr John Campbell. Youtube video about omicron. Its spread in Germany and the UK. How Scotland has more restrictions than England. Yet higher cases. With links to his data sources.

      We get Karl Lauterbach doom monger extraordinar.

  2. how exactly is he able to predict anything? what data does he have about how this will play out? fear-mongering seems to be his favorite approach, regardless of the outcome.

  3. Is this guy dreaming? Then again, appoint a fanatic as minister of health and this is what you’re bound to get.

  4. If you want sensible, unbiased information look for info put out by John Campbell. He’s been around years and provides evidence to back up what he presents.

  5. Lauterbach has been preaching COVID doom and gloom since he took office.

    Assumes the very worst scenario. Claims “hundreds of thousands” will become seriously ill and “thousands” will die. Based upon what data?? Omicron is less severe than Delta. What a fear monger.

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FAMILY

German schools and kitas warn of closures amid staff sickness wave

Schools and nurseries in Germany could have to close their doors due to too many staff members calling in sick with seasonal infections, the primary school association has warned.

Published: 24 November 2023 10:56 CET
German schools and kitas warn of closures amid staff sickness wave

With temperatures dropping and Covid and flu infections spiking, experts are warning that the shortage of staff in schools and Kitas around Germany is becoming increasingly hard to manage. 

According to Edgar Bohn, the chairman of the primary schools association, parents could find themselves left without childcare at short notice this winter if local schools have to close their doors due to too many staff absences.

“The staffing situation in many primary schools in the country is on the brink and in some cases is below the calculated staffing requirement,”  Bohn told RND. “I cannot and do not want to imagine complete school closures, but they could certainly be the result in some cases.”

READ ALSO: Reader question: Can I take sick leave in Germany without visiting a doctor?

Bohn’s warnings were echoed by Waltraud Weegmann, the head of the German Daycare Association, who reported that the situation in nursery schools was already difficult. 

“Many daycare centres across Germany are currently struggling with a high number of staff absences,” she said.

In Weegmann’s view, the skilled worker shortage in nursery schools needs to be dealt with urgently.

“Haste is required,” she said. “Otherwise we will no longer have a daycare centre crisis, but a complete daycare centre collapse.”

Though almost all sectors in Germany are battling severe staff shortages, education and childcare regularly emerge as two of the worst-affected sectors in the country.

According to Jennifer Rotter, a spokesperson for the Workers’ Welfare Association, this “precarious situation” makes school and Kita closures not just likely, but inevitable.

“Reduced opening hours and even short-term closures due to a lack of staff are almost the rule rather than the exception at the moment,” Rotter told RND.  

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: Which German sectors have the most job openings?

Covid inflections in Germany have been on the rise since the beginning of autumn, with official statistics from the Robert Koch Institute suggesting an incidence of 27 infections per 100,000 people in the space of a week.

However, since testing for the virus has sunk to very low levels, experts say the real figure is likely much higher.

In addition to infections with Covid-19, general respiratory infections like the flu are also going up. In the week ending November 19th, the frequency of this type of infection had risen to 8,700 per 100,000 people. 

Vocabulary 

wave of illnesses – (die) Krankheitswelle

short-notice – kurzfristig 

school closures – (die) Schulschließungen

precarious – prekär 

We’re aiming to help our readers improve their German by translating vocabulary from some of our news stories. Did you find this article useful? Let us know.

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