Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - Baden-Württemberg's Health Minister Manne Lucha has again asked the federal government for the "proven toolbox" of corona measures to deal with the pandemic in autumn. The most important measure is the obligation to wear masks indoors, said the Green politician on Friday in Stuttgart at an online expert hearing on pandemic management. In addition, the possibility of access restrictions to protect particularly vulnerable groups is needed.
That does not mean that you have to use every instrument, the minister said. But if the situation were to deteriorate, it was necessary to be able to govern quickly.
Lucha was backed by several doctors. For example, the Heidelberg virologist Hans-Georg Kräusslich and the Freiburg infectiologist Siegbert Rieg clearly pointed out the effectiveness of wearing a mask.
At the same time, the ministry is already observing a significant increase in the number of cases. In the past week alone, 60,000 new corona cases were registered in the southwest, said Stefan Brockmann, epidemiologist at the state health department. How strong a wave is in autumn depends on three factors: which virus variant then prevails, how many other respiratory diseases are added and how much the immunity in the population decreases. Brockmann expects a noticeable burden on the clinics again. Minister Lucha said the number of patients in the intensive care units should increase by 15 percent as early as next week.
A panel of experts from the federal government presented a long-awaited report on Friday. Accordingly, protective measures such as wearing a mask can continue to be helpful against the corona virus. Behind many other well-known conditions, the expert committee puts big question marks, due to a lack of sufficient data, no reliable assessments are possible.
