Anne Will on the corona crisis: ghost games in the Bundesliga

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The show opened with a video call to opera singer Michael Volle, who is voluntarily in quarantine. He tells how difficult it was to be tested. According to the result, he was not ill. However, he voluntarily waits for the incubation period to expire, since infection is still possible after the test.

The numbers of the evening

Is the fear of the virus justified? Figures and facts are a sensible, because factual, way of approaching the question. Will asks virologist Susanne Herold about the mortality rate. “We don’t know that exactly yet,” she replies, but then provides fairly precise, interesting figures: “There is a very differentiated report from the World Health Organization.” A group of different envoys in China analyzed the data situation over 10 days. The result: In the beginning, the mortality rate in Wuhan was 17 percent because nobody knew the virus. In the meantime, it has dropped to 5.4 percent in the city. Outside of Wuhan, in more rural areas, the mortality rate is 0.7 percent. There were fewer cases there, so that medical care was less overloaded.

“In Italy it is relatively high, over 3 percent. We don’t know exactly why at the moment, ”admits the virologists. The virus was not mutated and therefore more dangerous. Herold speculates that the mortality rate may be related to the quality of the health system or that particularly sensitive people have been infected.

The comparison of the evening

Is it drastic or justified to cancel events? Science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar answers this question. “The key to such epidemics is exponential growth,” he explains, calculating that without measures, we would theoretically be at the end of May with a million people.

That sounds a bit very speculative, but Yogeshwar emphasizes: It can happen if we don’t do anything. Therefore, it is now important not to react panicked and to make hamster purchases or to steal protective masks, but to implement rational measures. “We are dealing with an epidemic here, where we now seem to have to take drastic steps. So, I’m sorry, there might be no football for four weeks, ”says the journalist. Everyone knows such situations from life. Anyone driving a car, for example, buckles up and has an airbag – for the worst case that doesn’t have to occur. Nevertheless, the measures are important.

The counter of the evening

“What is proportionality? We also have to be careful that the fear virus does not spread too much, ”Minister Laumann asked about drastic measures. General practitioner Sibylle Katzenstein sees it differently, because in her environment she sees no hysterical patients, but responsible people. She sees the back and forth between “We must not be afraid” and “We must act” critically. “If people start to die and the health system reaches the limit of its capacity, the economy will suffer worse than if we take action now,” she countered.

The evening’s demand

Marcel Fratzscher, President of the German Institute for Economic Research, should apparently play the opposite part in the program, arguing against measures such as cancellation of events. However, given the widespread expansion, he now also thinks it makes sense. Lively discussions are generally avoided on the show.

However, Fratzscher warns that the crisis will cause substantial economic costs. Many companies could no longer produce and would no longer have customers, but would still have to pay salaries. “I think it is relatively likely that unemployment will rise in Germany,” he predicts.

His suggestion: Support the consumer, for example, by temporarily lowering VAT, because he might avoid spending money out of fear of losing his job and thereby damage the economy even more.

The announcement of the evening

Anne Will asks the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs a question that will surely burn some viewers: Will the catch-up game Gladbach against Cologne be canceled on Wednesday, will there be spectators? First Laumann evades the question: “The club has to decide”.

Anne Will follows. And the minister explains: “We will implement the recommendation of the Federal Minister of Health that he made today in North Rhine-Westphalia.” Implementation means: The State Ministry of Health repeats the recommendation in the direction of the local health authorities. “That sounded complicated now,” summarizes the moderator, and the minister becomes clearer: “In truth, it’s like an order.” Bundesliga matches without spectators have therefore become very likely.

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