Christmas lockdown or not? This is how experts assess the situation

In Germany, infection numbers and incidence levels continue to rise. Currently, the incidence is at a high of 213.7. Because of the rising Corona numbers, fears are circulating among German citizens that this year will again be a Christmas with strict restrictions. Some even fear a new lockdown. Experts are making these predictions in light of the current situation.

For days, the incidence value continues to go up! After topping 200 for the first time during the pandemic on Monday at 201.1, the nationwide incidence value then rose as high as 213.7 on Tuesday. On Tuesday morning, the Robert Koch Institute had reported 21,832 new Corona infections within the last 24 hours. Last Friday, a new record had also been set with 37,120 new infections. Since the start of the pandemic, 4,804,378 people have been infected with the insidious virus. However, the real number of infections is likely to have been significantly higher, as many infections are certain to have gone undetected. In light of these record numbers, many German citizens fear severe restrictions for the Christmas season. Threatens perhaps even a new lockdown?

Now some experts have spoken out, who have made an assessment of the situation. For example, Ralf Reintjes, a professor of epidemiology and health reporting at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg, Germany, has agreed to give a prognosis on how the pandemic will unfold. “If we are aware of the situation we are in – in the middle of a pandemic, at the beginning of autumn and winter, the best time for the virus to be transmitted – and act accordingly, we can limit the level of new infections,” Reintjes is still optimistic. But the expert also knows that if the Corona rules are disregarded, the numbers will continue to rise. Reintjes believes the best way to avoid a lockdown is to not react whenever the situation comes to a head.

For Friedemann Weber, Professor of Virology and Director of the corresponding Institute at the Justus Liebig University of Giessen, a lockdown, for example, is also a possibility: “I very much hope that a lockdown will not be necessary,” Weber predicts, but at the same time makes it clear that it would take “improved vaccination rates and, if possible, boosters”. And Timo Ulrichs, infectious disease epidemiologist and professor for international emergency and disaster relief at the Akkon University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, wants to contain the pandemic primarily with contact restrictions for the unvaccinated. For this had called to “We Online” to limit the contacts of the unvaccinated as much as possible. “Those who do not take the opportunity to protect themselves and others in the form of vaccination, must undergo the other measures,” Ulrichs demanded.