Lauterbach at ntv: “The English don’t have problems under control”

Lauterbach at ntv
“English don’t have problem under control”

When the German and English teams play in London’s Wembley Stadium in the evening, SPD health expert Lauterbach will be annoyed – not about the game, but about the audience, as he says on ntv.

ntv: Mr. Lauterbach, Germany will play against England at Wembley this evening. 45,000 spectators can be there. Do you have a stomach ache?

45,000 fans at Wembley Stadium are too many, says Lauterbach.

(Photo: picture alliance / Geisler-Fotopress)

Karl Lauterbach: Yes, unfortunately I find that very problematic. As a matter of fact. The delta variant is already widespread in England, and the number of cases continues to rise. The English don’t have the problem under control. That you then fill a football stadium with 45,000 spectators is not really a wise idea. People can infect each other and that is the completely wrong signal. It signals to young people that the pandemic is over and that the Delta variant isn’t really threatening. So it is an actual hazard to those in the stadium and a symbolic hazard to those who are watching. By the way, not only in England!

But you sit there in the fresh air. Under what conditions can you still get infected?

You can get infected at the entrance. You stand close together and so the aerosols can infect those around you. You can also get infected in the stadium. At 45,000 it works! If you fill the stadium so that only every fifth seat is occupied, then the gaps are so big. Then there is an infection and an infected person may infect his neighbor, but then there is no super-spreading. At 45,000, that’s a dangerous situation. You get into a situation in which many can be infected. Especially on arrival and departure.

Can you explain to us again in more detail: How should one imagine this virus distribution in the stadium itself? So how long do the viruses last in the air, perhaps compared to an enclosed space?

The danger is of course incredibly lower than in a closed room. It is very clear. So you have to imagine that the viruses are exhaled or shouted out and when someone stands in front of me and the person standing in front of me breathes in, then that person can inhale the virus and then it happens. But the viruses don’t last long. Then there is no superspreading.

Mr. Lauterbach, you also advocated tightening the entry rules once again. The federal and state governments have now decided against it. The entry regulations should not be changed for the time being. Is there a risk of travel chaos in the summer, in which the returnees might drag a fourth wave into the country?

If those infected while on vacation were tested on entry and quarantined and tested a second time five days after entry, then we could identify many infected people coming back into the country. That would just be a little more secure. But that’s very unpopular now on vacation. The prime ministers spoke out against it. But it would help because we would have fewer cases when autumn comes and school starts again.

Is the delta variant really only dangerous for those who have not been vaccinated or can people who have been vaccinated just as easily become infected?

Vaccinated people can also become infected, but not as well. You have protection with a perfect vaccination. If you’re fully vaccinated with a good vaccine, about 95 percent. However, this means that one in 20 completely vaccinated will still be infected and the rates are likely to be even higher. In the case of vaccines that are not quite as protective, we do not have complete protection here. We have to reckon with the fact that the elderly and those who have risk factors and who do not have such good immunity are not really fully protected from vaccination either.

Let’s talk briefly about vaccinations for children. What role exactly do children play when infected with the Delta variant?

With the delta variant, it is the case that children can also become infected and that they infect each other because the viral load is so high. So children have so many viruses that they infect others. Children will play a role in the fourth wave this fall. Especially because the children then sit indoors and will infect each other.

At the same time, some vaccination centers are no longer getting rid of their vaccine, and there are no longer enough interested parties, even though the quantities of vaccines continue to rise. How big is your concern that we are already getting vaccine-tired?

I hear that vaccine is left lying around in some vaccination centers, but that is a rarity, and in practices it is primarily the Astrazeneca vaccine, which sometimes remains because the willingness to take this vaccine is too low. But at this point in time we still have significantly more people who want to be vaccinated than vaccines. That will turn at some point. Maybe in late summer and then we have to run campaigns. Our biggest problem is that we really don’t get that close to those in the problem areas. So who are not concerned with the question of vaccination, but simply say: I don’t need that! Not wanting to get vaccinated because they underestimate the risk of the disease, because they think they won’t get it. That is a problem and we have to do a lot more. There is a lot of talk about it. But little happens. As of now, we don’t have a really good strategy for getting vaccine skeptics to vaccinate.

Nele Balgo spoke to Professor Karl Lauterbach

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