Known for his alarmist rhetoric, he shaped the corona pandemic by sketching horror scenarios. We are talking about the German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (59).
However, at a press conference on Wednesday, the other fear minister made a surprising turnaround. “From the current perspective, the closures of the nurseries were not necessary,” said the SPD politician. According to the Federal Minister of Health, this is the result of the current investigation into the Corona daycare, the results of which he presented together with the Federal Minister of Family Affairs Lisa Paus (54).
Minister of Health admits mistakes
“The nurseries were not drivers of the pandemic,” he said, admitting their closure was a clear mistake. According to the study, the incidence among children in daycare is 9.6 percent, still lagging behind primary school children and adolescents. “You could get infected much less in daycare centers than in families.” This is the main finding of the study by the Robert Koch Institute and the German Youth Institute, which examined the role childcare played in the spread of the virus.
In addition, the disease course in children under five was largely asymptomatic. The children would hardly have suffered any permanent damage. Pope added that the children often suffered less from the virus itself than from the consequences of the measures.
The damage of the measures to the children is not small. “It is particularly frightening that socially disadvantaged children and young people are being severely affected and that so many of them are showing mental stress,” said the Greens politician. In the future, the best interests of the child must come first.
According to Lauterbach, the new findings of the study should be taken into account next winter. Measures such as contact reduction, forming small groups, adult masks and ventilation are still important. But: “Closing daycare centers is absolutely not medically appropriate.”
Lauterbach has been heavily criticized on Twitter
Lauterbach’s turnaround led to fierce reactions on Twitter. While some question the correctness of his statement, others see it as confirmation that Lauterbach followed the wrong strategy with his radical measures. “He is no longer acceptable as health minister,” writes one user. “It can now be taken for granted that he was wrong on essential points with his corona fear,” another tweeted.
The health minister was also criticized by other politicians. CDU politician Armin Laschet (61) took the floor: he hopes that some of the actors who call themselves “Team Warning” will apologize to the children. And, “We should have resisted the prohibition frenzy even more at the expense of the children.”
But what now? Is Corona suddenly being treated lightly in Germany? Lauterbach’s statements do not indicate this. The Minister of Health expects the number of cases to increase again in the winter. He warned that hospitals were already working against the limit and that new variants were emerging.
Still: “We are well prepared for this with the vaccination campaign.” 100,000 new vaccinations are administered every day. The drug Paxlovid, which is used to treat Covid-19, can also be used. (dzc)