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COVID-19 STATS

Germany has passed peak of summer Covid wave, says RKI

Germany has made it through the worst of the Covid wave that has swept through the country this summer, according to experts.

A person holds a face mask in Stuttgart.
A person with a face mask in Stuttgart. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Bernd Weißbrod

Covid infections are declining in all federal states and age groups, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said in its weekly report released on Thursday evening. 

Meanwhile, the nationwide 7-day incidence dropped again last week by 27 percent.

According to the weekly report, the number of people reported to have Covid, including symptoms has gone down as well as the number of doctor visits.

The RKI says that the data means that “the current peak of the wave seems to have been passed”. But experts from the public health institute say it is still too early to sound the all-clear on the pandemic. 

It comes after the German Health and Justice Ministry last week released a plan to tackle the Covid development in autumn through to spring next year. 

READ ALSO: Masks and no lockdowns – Germany’s new Covid plan from autumn to Easter

Older groups particularly affected

The number of hospital admissions of people with Covid-19 decreased last week, as did the number of patients diagnosed with Covid-19 in intensive care units (ICUs), the RKI said. Outbreaks across German nursing homes have been decreasing as well. 

The RKI also says there has been a decline in deaths associated with the virus recently – with 372 Covid deaths reported last week compared to 444 the previous week.

Although this shows that Germany seems to have got through the peak of the current wave, the RKI says that people over the age of 80 continue to be the most affected by severe illness.

And despite the improved situation last week, the infection risk remains “high” in all age groups, according to the RKI – as does the burden on the health system.

Looking ahead to the next few weeks, the RKI expects a “continued high number of hospitalisations, Covid-19 patients requiring intensive care and deaths, especially in older age groups”.

For this reason the RKI says it is not sounding the all-clear and urged people to get vaccinated or boosted if they haven’t already. 

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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.

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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