Ahead of the upcoming federal-state conference on the current Corona situation, health expert Karl Lauterbach has commented on necessary measures. In an interview with the Rheinische Post, the SPD politician advocates, among other things, the postponement of all scheduled operations.

In order to be able to break the fourth Corona wave still effectively, a resolution of federation and countries must come still this week into force, which contains stricter measures.

The latter means, above all, postponing scheduled operations for the time being. In this way, capacities could be kept free for Corona patients as well as for acute emergencies. "Despite a slight drop in the number of infections, the country is in the midst of a deep pandemic crisis with far too many deaths, which will continue for many weeks," Lauterbach explains. Already last week, for example, Corona patients from Bavaria had to be flown by the air force to other German states because the intensive care beds on site were at capacity.

Lauterbach's measures are largely covered in the current draft for today's Corona summit. However, daily testing in schools is unlikely to be mandated, and the paper also does not mention emergency operations in hospitals. The plan, however, is likely to include a general vaccination requirement by February 2022.

Karl Lauterbach is the SPD's health expert and a human physician specializing in epidemiology. With regard to the pandemic, he had recently criticized large events such as soccer matches in particular. In this regard, the draft by the federal and state governments stipulates that a maximum of 30 percent of capacity may be used indoors.

Image by Gerd Altmann