How useful are corona tests for vaccinated people? – News

Should vaccinated people get tested?

If you have symptoms, vaccinated people should definitely be tested – says the RKI. But if there are no symptoms at all, the risk of infections going undetected increases. Prof. Dr. Carsten Watzl, immunologist at TU Dortmund University, assumes that breakthrough infections will increase. And according to information from a new study by Public Health England health England">(PHE)it becomes clear that with the delta variant, people with a breakthrough infection are highly contagious, at least in the first few days.

Watzl considers incidences of 400 to 500 in autumn to be quite realistic and therefore warns: “With the vaccination we have already saved a great many lives, but even with a vaccination rate of 60 percent it would be naive to believe that we can afford such high incidences.”

There are still enough people who can drive the pandemic and run the risk of becoming seriously ill. “The question now will be how much incidence we can afford before the hospitals come back to their limits. And it would be desirable if you acted proactively and not reactively. ”

How useful would a compulsory test be for vaccinated people?

If the health system is threatened with overload, the 2G rule could also make sense, according to Watzl. Above a certain limit value, compulsory testing for vaccinated and convalescent people can also help break chains of infection – i.e. 2G + G – for example at large indoor events.

Ruth Schulz from the WDR Quarks editorial team says: “It can make sense for certain situations, such as in medicine, in nursing homes, etc., to routinely test vaccinated people as well.” And if you want more security for yourself, you can of course test yourself before a family reunion and with people at risk.

Professor Watzl does not think it makes sense that tests should cost something from mid-October: “Infectiously and epidemiologically, this is a measure that makes absolutely no sense, because of course you want as many people as possible to be tested. This is the only way I can discover as many infections as possible at an early stage. ”

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