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The German virologist Christian Drosten considers omikron as the variant where the virus becomes endemic and that in itself is hopeful news, “but until then it will be tough and we will face major challenges”. He therefore advocates the introduction of a 1G measure.
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If the current corona measures do not yield the hoped-for result, 1G should be considered, where the G stands for boosted, the top virologist argues in the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung on Friday.
In Germany, the 2G rule has been in force for some time. This means that only people who have been vaccinated or cured have access to, for example, museums, leisure centers and many shops. Unvaccinated people are only allowed to go to work or on the train with a negative test.
To curb a new wave of corona infections, the Germans will have to severely limit their contacts after Christmas in a so-called ‘lockdown light’. From December 28, vaccinated and cured people are only allowed to gather with a maximum of ten people, both indoors and outdoors. Children up to the age of 15 are excluded. There were already restrictions on their contacts for unvaccinated people.
If the contact restrictions “don’t work as expected, see if you don’t have to enter 1G – and the G is then boosted,” said Drosten, also director of the Institute of Virology at Charité Hospital in Berlin. He reasons that those who have recently been boosted are likely to contribute less to the spread of the virus and also be better protected against disease. “With the delta variant, 2G or 3G may have been sufficient, but now omikron is rewriting the rules,” explains the virologist.
Less severe disease course
According to Drosten, recent studies raise hopes that omikron leads to a less severe disease course than delta. But the data is still incomplete, he emphasizes. A large number of infections can pose a problem not only for hospitals, but also for vital sectors such as the police and fire service, even when the burden of disease is lower, he explains.
Drosten is optimistic that the omikron variant could be the tipping point in the pandemic at which the virus becomes endemic. In other words, the coronavirus then becomes a “seasonal epidemic”, like the flu, which can return for years in the winter, but which we can control with booster vaccinations. The virus will then behave more like other established coronaviruses, with symptoms of a cold.
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