Health Minister Spahn warns that if nothing happens now, “a bitter winter” threatens. He rejects the accusation that he himself gave the all-clear: “Nothing happens now that has not already been in forecasts or in statements from all of us.”
Like the entire federal government, he is only in office in a managerial capacity, but unlike some of his colleagues, Jens Spahn does not give the impression that he can hardly wait for his term as minister to end soon. On the contrary: Jens Spahn is fighting for his legacy.
But that’s not all. Spahn’s press conferences with Lothar Wieler, the head of the Robert Koch Institute, which recently took place only irregularly, will now be held weekly again. One could get the idea that someone wants to take as much attention away as possible. But the Federal Minister of Health succeeds in preventing this impression. The weekly Corona report is intended to raise public awareness of how serious the situation is, he says. “The situation is serious and I recommend that we all take it seriously.” Once again he sounds almost like Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said at the beginning of the pandemic: “It’s serious. Take it seriously too.”
But that is also the problem of politics in this pandemic – the announcements, appeals and warnings are always the same. “The vaccination brings light to the end of the tunnel,” Spahn said in January of this year and that is of course also true. Except that the tunnel is longer than was thought possible back then and just a few weeks ago.
Spahn and Wieler are countering the impression that they have ever underestimated the pandemic. “Ladies and gentlemen, it is five past twelve!” Says Wieler at the beginning of his remarks. Spahn recalls that he warned in July that there could be a seven-day incidence of 800 in October. We’re not quite that far yet, at least not nationwide. Regionally yes: Wieler shows a map of Germany on which the circles are colored depending on the infection. Almost all districts are deep red, in the south and east they are already pink, in four districts the incidence is over 1000.
“A bitter December” threatens
Yesterday there were more than 50,000 cases for the first time, says Wieler, more than ever before. He calculates the probability that 3000 of these will have to be treated in hospital, at least 350 would have to go to the intensive care unit, “at least 200 will die”.
Spahn warns that the incidences will double every two weeks. In Saxony, Thuringia and Bavaria there are clinics that are already “over the limit”. “That is bitter and that is the situation that we have always wanted to avoid and will continue to avoid.” If nothing happens now, it will be “a bitter December for the whole country”.
Spahn recalls the resolutions of the conference of health ministers a week ago: booster vaccinations for everyone, stricter requirements for access to events, test concepts for nursing homes. He also has good news: the number of vaccinations is increasing, “for the first time in quite a long time” more than four million vaccine doses were ordered this week. In addition, all federal states have now decided to inform the elderly in writing about the possibility of a booster vaccination. This problem is also well-known and ensures that every corona wave runs according to the same pattern: It takes time and again for measures – in this case the information letter to the elderly – to be recognized as sensible by politicians. Then it will take even longer for the last federal states to participate. Neither the Chancellor nor the Federal Corona Minister has been able to change anything in almost two years of the pandemic.
And then at some point it will be too late. Vaccination makes the crucial difference, says Spahn today, perhaps for the thousandth time, but the effect of a vaccination takes time and that is why increased vaccination does not help enough at the moment. That is why he is today signing the ordinance that reintroduces the free citizen tests. But even that is not enough, “at least not anymore”. In addition to the resolutions of the traffic light parties, Spahn is calling for “2G plus” for events, ie admission only for vaccinated and convalescent people who are tested at the same time. That is “a difficult step, but a step that we have to take and we can only take it together”. Spahn only presents criticism of the traffic light plans in a dosed manner, at least not as vehemently as Union parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus on Thursday in the Bundestag. The “polyphony of the proposals of the past weeks” caused confusion, “and they have ensured that too many no longer take the Corona requirements seriously”.
“Nothing happens now that was not predicted”
When two journalists ask him that he himself has spoken out in favor of an end to the pandemic situation, Spahn strikes back. “Well, we are completely in agreement in the Union,” he says, “that further measures are needed for the federal states”. It is crucial that the countries have the “toolkit” they need. A lockdown is also part of this, “as an option, regionally”.
He pointed out in a letter to the traffic light parties on October 15 that it was not wise to restrict the countries’ catalog of measures. He then also exercises a little self-criticism: Perhaps he should have “pointed out even more clearly” that the pandemic is not over. But then Spahn pulls it back: “Nothing happens now that has not already been in forecasts or in statements from all of us.” To a question about the bad situation for the nursing staff, Spahn gives a long answer with which he defends his balance sheet. In a nutshell, the message is: Enough has not happened, but at least we were on our way, even before the pandemic.
“I observe how much the nurses are passionate about their work. But many are burned out and frustrated after three waves of pandemics, they are giving up their jobs,” Spahn said in a lengthy interview to “Spiegel”, today he repeats this sentence . It seems to be only partially similar to him, he also continues to burn, but he does not seem burned out.
When Spahn said in a meeting of the Union parliamentary group on Wednesday that he did not want to run for the CDU chairmanship, he justified this with, among other things, his work as Federal Minister of Health: He did not want to enter an internal party election campaign, but rather concentrate fully on combating the pandemic. Since the minister will most likely be out of his job in the second week of December, this remark was also smiled among party friends. Apparently he was serious.