“Waiting and waiting costs human lives”: Top physicians write corona fire letters to the government

“Waiting costs human lives”
Top physicians write corona fire letters to the government

Several top physicians and scientists are urging a quick change of course in corona policy. In a joint letter they warn of the force of the fourth wave, which could “overshadow” everything that has gone before.

A total of 35 leading doctors and other specialists from all over Germany have called on the federal and state governments to change course in corona policy. Instead of “passive waiting” to increasingly shift responsibility for breaking the fourth wave “to the discretion of each individual”, politicians must finally “fully meet their responsibility”, write the researchers in a three-sided appeal that the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” and the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” published.

The current pandemic situation has the potential to overshadow the situation from spring and past waves, it said. “Every day of waiting costs lives”, write the experts under the leadership of the Cologne internist Michael Hallek and the Braunschweig virologist Melanie Brinkmann. The signatories include the well-known intensive care physicians Christian Karagiannidis and Uwe Janssens.

The consensus: “We are deeply disappointed about the threat to social cohesion and about the repeated negligent handling of the well-being of the people who depend on the protection of the state.” And further: “It is incomprehensible to us that those responsible in this country have allowed such a situation.”

The authors criticize, among other things, the temporary dismantling of test and vaccination centers as well as a political determination of times for an alleged end of the pandemic. The researchers are calling for a national crisis team to be set up with experts from virology, medicine and public health, but also practitioners with management experience, for example from clinics or companies.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported another sharp rise in corona numbers on Saturday. The RKI registered 45,081 new positive tests. That is more than 11,000 cases more than on Saturday a week ago, when 34,002 new infections were reported. The seven-day incidence jumped to 277.4 (Friday: 263.7) – a high in the pandemic to date. There have been dramatic increases in numbers in the south-east of the country in particular. In Saxony the incidence shot up to 620.7, in Thuringia to 514.4. This is followed by Bavaria with 478.7. In all three federal states, the vaccination rate is below average. Four counties now report an incidence of more than 1000.

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