Wednesday 17th November 2021
So far “a toothless tiger”
Merkel calls for nationwide hospitalization index
In the run-up to tomorrow’s Prime Minister’s Conference, Chancellor Merkel and Health Minister Spahn are campaigning for a uniform limit value for hospitalizations. The situation is “dramatic,” said Merkel. Spahn calls for 2G as a nationwide basic principle and stricter controls.
The Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to set a binding value for the so-called hospitalization index at the federal-state consultations on the corona situation on tomorrow, Thursday. She said that at the general meeting of the German Association of Cities, to which she was digitally connected. Specifically, it required a value “from which additional binding measures must be initiated”. Without such a threshold, the index, which provides information on hospital admissions within seven days per 100,000 inhabitants, remains “a toothless tiger”. “It would be a disaster if we only act when the intensive care units are full,” warned Merkel against further hesitation. The situation is “dramatic,” said Merkel.
When the Infection Protection Act was changed in September, the hospitalization index was declared the decisive factor for assessing the pandemic situation. To date, however, unlike the seven-day incidence of new infections, there is no benchmark from which politics must act. The nationwide hospitalization index is currently 5.15. This means that in the past seven days, an average of 5.15 people per 100,000 inhabitants with Covid-19 were admitted to hospital. The proportion of Covid 19 sufferers in German intensive care units is currently around 15.5 percent.
The Managing Minister of Health Jens Spahn said: “We are currently in the process of having to regularly move patients to certain regions in the Federal Republic of Germany, from intensive care units or in good time beforehand to other hospitals in the wider region.” He complains that the current situation was foreseeable. A lot of modeling in the summer would have predicted the development.
Merkel shouted at the traffic light parties
Merkel also sharply criticizes the traffic light parties’ turning away from the epidemic emergency with a view to the current corona situation. “Even if there is no longer a legal majority for the prolongation of the epidemic emergency of national scope, there can be no doubt for me that we are in the middle of such an emergency. The current pandemic in Germany is dramatic. The fourth wave hits our country with full force, “warned the Chancellor in her speech with a view to the high number of new infections and deaths as well as the rapidly increasing occupancy of the intensive care units.
Merkel therefore demanded specific resolutions from the top-level meeting of the federal and state governments. “I’m finally saying, because the meeting is overdue,” she criticized the delays in convening it, in particular because of resistance on the part of the SPD. “The virus does not care at all whether Germany is currently in a phase with the executive federal government, which I lead, and negotiations about the formation of a new federal government,” said the Chancellor.
Merkel also called for more efforts to “make urgent progress with vaccination”. “A national effort” is now also required for the upcoming booster vaccinations. All of this is necessary “so that we can survive the very difficult weeks ahead of us halfway lightly.” The Vice President of the German Association of Cities, Markus Lewe, called for help from the federal government for the upcoming vaccination campaigns. “We need massive help. We are not sure whether the resident doctors can do it alone,” said the SPD politician and mayor of Münster on ZDF. “The federal government must now actually make the vaccination capacities available and as quickly as possible. There is no longer any time to discuss it.”
Spahn: Too often, compliance with the rules is not checked at all
After the first federal states had already tightened their corona measures in the past few days, in some cases introduced 2G rules for cultural events or body-friendly services, Spahn said that it now depends on the implementation of the rules. “The truth is: too often it was 0G because nothing was checked,” said Spahn. It is right now to tighten the measures “with the aim of having 2G more widely as a basic principle nationwide”. Further 2G-Plus rules as well as a lockdown and contact restrictions for unvaccinated people have the potential to noticeably curb the spread of the virus. “This prime ministerial conference is more important than probably any before,” stressed Spahn. If the federal and state governments give a uniform signal that the situation is serious, “then that is also a message that citizens incorporate into their everyday behavior”.
The Prime Minister’s Conference on the Corona situation will come together on Thursday afternoon via video conference. The Bundestag wants to discuss the changes to the Infection Protection Act in the morning.