Corona for the third time: The summer wave is rolling, the expert commission is snaking its way through the data gaps with ever new question marks and the Minister of Health impiously judges that their report is “not a Bible”. Anne Will asks anxiously: “Balance of the Corona policy – is Germany better prepared for the next wave?”
The guests
Professor Karl Lauterbach (59, SPD). The Minister of Health sees the Commission’s 160-page evaluation as just a “puzzle piece in a larger puzzle”. Are you serious?
Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus (62, FDP). The parliamentary group manager sits on the health committee and rants: “Some in politics are specifically looking for a dispute on the subject of Corona in order to distinguish themselves!”
Ricardo Lange (40). The intensive caregiver tweeted forgivingly before the show: “My goal is not to finish Lauterbach.” Can he stand it?
Christina Berndt (62). The science journalist (“SZ”) makes the expert work mad: “A good evaluation of measures would be so important! Unfortunately, they owe the report.” Boom!
Unclear situation, nevertheless clear fronts. The Zoff-o-Meter hopes for new insights.
Biggest difference of opinion
Journalist Berndt does not leave a good hair on the commission report “because it is so vague.” Her devastating verdict: “The things that are in there were known beforehand”. The chapter on the evaluation of the measures was “knitted with a hot needle and scientifically thin.”
FDP politician Aschenberg-Dugnus has a completely different opinion: “We learned important things,” she claims. Her most important finding: “School closures will no longer happen.”
The Zoff-o-Meter is already going up
After that, the FDP politician caught the “SZ” journalist on the wrong foot: “You, Mrs. Berndt, said in advance, when the report wasn’t even there, that this was a result that you weren’t satisfied with.” , etches Aschenberg-Dugnus. “I wonder if that was respectful of the experts!”
Ui! Did the “SZ” print a takedown without facts, just out of the hollow of your hand? Berndt’s brazen excuse: “Sometimes you have to be disrespectful to evaluate things correctly. I had a draft that was actually made much worse in terms of craftsmanship…” Simsalabim – this is how speculation suddenly becomes reality.
Most atmospheric detail
“I pull out a lot of nectar there,” emphasizes the politician. It is particularly important to her that “we now have real-time data”. And: “Now the waste water monitoring is being initiated. And more vaccination campaigns. So a lot will happen there.”
About the negotiations between Lauterbach and the Minister of Justice, she says: “The Minister of Health – I always have to be careful that I use his name now – and Marco Buschmann have already sat down…” Is the comrade-you now also conquering the liberal circles?
Most confident answer
The talk show host would like to present the health minister as a brakeman: “You let everyone know that you read studies at night,” she scoffs at him. “For what findings did you need the report of the Advisory Council anyway?”
“I still read studies, so it would have been a surprise if I had had to wait for the report myself,” Lauterbach replies coolly. The Minister of Justice was determined to wait for the report, and “we are in a coalition!”
Most comprehensive fact check
Then the minister briefly puts the critics in their shoes: “What is not true is that we waited until this report was available with measures for the autumn,” he explains, and hurriedly lists what the cabinet had already decided beforehand: the vaccination campaign . Pandemic radar in the clinics, waste water monitoring for better data…
“What is still missing are the measures in the Infection Protection Act,” adds Lauterbach. Concerns masks, admission controls, tests for restaurant visitors…
Most energetic announcement
“A lockdown can be ruled out because we have too good an immune status in the population for that,” the minister then announced with examples from his wide range of defensive gestures. “Therefore, for all we know, a lockdown is completely unrealistic. We don’t need him anymore.” Hallelujah!
In addition, Lauterbach is certain “that we will probably no longer have to close schools”. Hooray, hooray, school is booming!
Small caveat: “Personally, I think closures are very, very unlikely,” admits Lauterbach, “but categorically excluding them, I would be careful because we don’t know which variants are coming.” Phew!
And again Zoff
“Now we are putting a lot of pressure on,” promises the minister. “What we have to do to be better in care, to have the radar, better data, also that we have a vaccination campaign and a test regulation, we will decide all of that next week in the Bundestag.” Horrido!
Intensive care nurse Lange is pissed off for another reason: “When I hear that you want to relieve the intensive care units, then I sit in front of the TV with my fists clenched!” He suddenly rages.
Angriest thunderstorm of questions
“Would you say the health system is overwhelmed when people die due to understaffing?” he snaps at the minister. “When the staff collapse crying in the hallways? What if they go on strike at the university clinics in North Rhine-Westphalia because they are desperate?”
Then he bursts out: “When people’s life and limb are in danger?” the nurse growls. “If the ambulance can no longer drive to the hospital because the staff there is no longer up to par? What are you waiting for? It is your responsibility to eliminate the staff shortage!”
Most plausible counterarguments
“The situation is well known to me,” Lauterbach defends himself, “and I’ve been working for years to ensure that we take countermeasures.” For example, through his initiative, care was removed from the flat-rate fees, so that the hospitals are no longer making a profit from it can cause them to fire nurses. Bravo!
Regarding the current strikes in North Rhine-Westphalia, the minister says: “I think they’re justified. I am in close contact with the strikers.” There will be advantages for clinics and staff in the new care relief law. Lauterbach’s promise. “The key points will come before the summer break!”
Strongest contradiction
“There’s no staff here at all!” the orderly growls and stabs the air with a pointed index finger. “In addition, there is far too much leeway. All the clinics cheat. The service staff now have to complete a one-year training course to become nursing assistants so that the clinics can then bill them as nursing staff!”
The minister finds the criticism unfair: “Now I’m being accused of not having come a month earlier,” he complains. “It hasn’t come before that for ten years. Hi? I haven’t been in office that long!”
And, according to his serious warning: “If we talk about care worse than it is, we are not making the profession more attractive!”
Fiercest Battle
“Why can a soldier retire at 55 and someone who has spent his entire life caring for the seriously ill has to work until 67?” Lange enraged.
The FDP politician has a suggestion: “We have to say that you also have the opportunity to improve your skills after ten years through further training,” she happily promises. “Carers can do more than they are allowed to!”
“That’s just such nonsense!” Lange growls. “In the intensive care unit, nurses do a lot more than they are actually allowed to do. They’re in jail with half a leg!”
Strongest emotional outburst
“Have you ever looked someone in the eye who says I have to die now because I wasn’t able to take preventive care during the pandemic?” the nurse asks angrily. “Have you ever hugged a daughter who lost her father and mother because the tumor was diagnosed too late? You do not have. Me, yes!”
“What do you mean by that?” the minister asked. “Like you, I have spoken to people where loved ones have died. I feel sorry for every single one. Nevertheless, one must not give the impression that we did it haphazardly!”
Urgent Appeal
“For those who are over 60, we only have 20 to 25 percent who have had the fourth vaccination,” warns Lauterbach. “In BA.5, the variant we are currently fighting with, the fourth vaccination leads to a very sharp drop in mortality.”
“For the general obligation to vaccinate,” the minister concluded, “I gave everything in the Bundestag. But we didn’t have a majority. You have to deal with that. That’s called democracy.” Amen!
quote of the evening
“There has never been a study that shows people who fall out of an airplane are better off with a parachute than without a parachute. Nevertheless, we stipulate it because it is simply highly plausible.” Prof. Karl Lauterbach
Conclusion
“Please let me finish for a moment!” – “I think it’s my turn now!” – “If you interrupt me, I’ll lose the thread!” Lots of information, but also quarrels and Zoff, lots of technical and strong language, unstoppable Eager to talk to the point of frenzy: That was a roar of opinion in the “Wortissimo” category.