Thursday 29 July 2021
Hospitalization instead of incidence
SPD states are calling for a nationwide traffic light system
The number of infections is rising again in Germany. At the same time, more than half of the population is fully vaccinated. For this reason, many consider an orientation based on incidence as a benchmark to be outdated. Rhineland-Palatinate and Berlin are now calling for a new warning system that applies nationwide.
In view of the growing number of people vaccinated against the corona virus, the Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer, has spoken out in favor of adapted evaluation criteria in the corona policy. “Of course, we are also looking at the increasing number of infections with concern,” she told the “Rheinische Post”. “Nevertheless, the incidence today says much less about the risk of illness and the possible burden on the health system than it did six months ago, because more and more people are being vaccinated.”
The incidence remains important, but it should be linked to the situation in the hospitals, said Dreyer. This includes who is admitted there and who has to go to an intensive care unit. “The federal states must come to a new warning value with the federal government. We should agree quickly on a nationwide regulation.”
Berlin’s Governing Mayor Michael Müller also believes that it makes sense to add other factors to the incidence. “In Berlin, we have had a system with the Corona traffic light for over a year that records not only incidence but also other indicators such as intensive care bed occupancy. I believe that is the right way to go,” he told the editorial network Germany (RND).
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania there is also a traffic light model that takes into account the seven-day incidence, the number of Covid patients in the hospital and the utilization of the intensive care units. Dreyer praised the model as a “very clever traffic light system”. “This is exactly the kind of orientation we need nationwide.”
The federal government has already announced that in future values such as hospital admissions will be given greater consideration. The deputy chairman of the SPD parliamentary group, Dirk Wiese, supported Dreyer’s request. “As the vaccination progresses, an increasing incidence loses its informative value. The SPD parliamentary group has therefore been calling for months to supplement the incidence value with further criteria for measures to protect against the coronavirus,” said Wiese. As further criteria he named the hospital occupancy, the workload of the intensive care units and the progress of the vaccination.
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