Schleswig-Holstein’s state government is advising ten scientists during the corona pandemic. Their different disciplines lead to different approaches.
by Andreas Schmidt
It’s a magical moment when the morning sun comes through between the houses. Then it bathes the still frosted lawn of the Wacholderpark in Hamburg in a glittering golden light. In the trees you can hear the birds chirping. Gabriel Felbermayr now comes here more often to get some fresh air. The economist is President of the Kiel Institute for the WorldEconomy (IfW). He usually sits in his office in Kiel or travels all over the world. Now he usually sits at home near Hamburg’s Fuhlsbüttel Airport. Since there are hardly any aircraft taking off, it is quieter in his residential area – at least.
Economist Felbermayr: “Your knees are shaking”
Gabriel Felbermayr is one of ten scientists who are currently advising the state government. Politics is no stranger to him. Not even that his opinion is being asked. But the speed at which everything happens is breathtaking. “Normally we have three months to make an economic forecast, and on some topics we talk about decades. Now billion dollar political decisions are made within days. Your knees are shaking,” says Felbermayr.
He is used to thinking in different scenarios. But now he has to think much more carefully about what he is advising politicians to do, since some concepts are implemented immediately and can no longer be revised. “It makes you queasy.”
The state government wants to come out of lockdown in four stages. Eleven experts in the state parliament gave their opinion on this perspective plan. more
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The body meets before the Prime Minister’s Conference
On a Tuesday morning in the Kiel State Chancellery. Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) comes into the room specially set up for video conferences. Little by little, the faces of ten experts appear on the big screens, from psychiatrists to economists to crisis researchers. Whenever a prime ministerial conference is due, the committee meets virtually.
“There are not many people I have met more often in the last year than these experts. And it is quite an unusual constellation to say that about people, most of whom you have never met personally,” he says Prime Minister.
Psychologist: “Situation comparable to a war zone”
The scientists often advised him to do very different things, says Daniel Günther. The Expert Council has ten perspectives on every topic, all of which are well founded. For example that of Professor Kamila Jauch-Chara. The doctor heads the Center for Integrated Psychiatry at the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH) in Kiel.
She observes more and more mental disorders in children and adolescents: fears, depression, but also mentally-related abdominal pain and headaches. “The situation can be compared to a war zone. People have the feeling that they have lost control of their lives. This affects children and young people in particular,” says Jauch-Chara.
Will a traumatized generation grow up in the pandemic?
That is why she always tries to work towards “as much as possible” when opening schools and daycare centers. The virologists, however, urge caution. Kamila Jauch-Chara is of course also concerned about the current infection numbers, but also warns of a completely different wave. “The psychological damage that children and adolescents now suffer in isolation will only really become apparent in ten to 15 years, when they will be adults.” A traumatized generation is threatened.
In the end, the risk is always borne by politics
The step-by-step opening plan, according to which the state government is now working, is the result of weeks of weighing up the various disciplines. In the end, politics has to decide and take the risk of being wrong. “Nobody does that for me,” says Prime Minister Günther. Hopefully this crisis will come to an end at some point. “Then we made a fixed appointment to meet in person at a table.”
The expert council of the state government at a glance
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Fölster is a lawyer and has been President of the Higher Regional Court in Schleswig since 2008. She studied in Kiel and was a public prosecutor, civil judge and investigative judge in Berlin. In 1992 she became press officer for Justice Senator Jutta Limbach and went to the Federal Constitutional Court with her in 1996. There she set up the press office. Before she came to Schleswig, she was President of the Berlin-Mitte District Court.
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Fickenscher is a virologist and head of the Institute for Infection Medicine at the University of Kiel. He studied at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, did his doctorate and began to work there as a scientist. After completing his habilitation in 1998, he went to the University of Heidelberg in 2002 and finally came to Kiel in 2005. Herpes viruses are his specialty. Fickenscher is also the master of the corona numbers from SH: His institute takes over the task of the state registration office for infectious diseases.
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Roselieb researches and advises on the subject of crises and crisis communication. His company is called Krisennavigator and arose from the environment of the University of Kiel. He is a business graduate.
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Marcic has been an infection control officer in the Ministry of Health since 2006. Her topics there: infection and hospital hygiene, vaccination, disease alarm planning and pandemic planning, implementation of international health regulations. She is a trained specialist in hygiene and environmental medicine. Marcic studied at the University of Göttingen and received his doctorate in 1994. After completing her specialist training, she began to work in the field of hospital hygiene at the UKSH in Kiel in 1996. She initially stayed there as a specialist until she moved to the ministry.
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Rabe is the medical director and medical director of the Lungenclinic Großhansdorf. His main research interests are asthma, COPD and lung cancer. He studied at the University of Hamburg, did his doctorate and went to the University of Leiden (Netherlands) as a professor. There he headed the penumology department until he started in Großhansdorf in 2010.
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Rosenstiel has been Director of the Institute for Clinical Molecular Biology at the UKSH in Kiel since 2012 and Professor of Molecular Medicine in Kiel since 2007. He had previously studied in Kiel and Bar Habor and received his doctorate in 2003. He then started to work at the Institute for Clinical Molecular Biology.
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Rupp has headed the Clinic for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at the UKSH Lübeck since 2013 and teaches as a professor at the University of Lübeck. He studied at the universities in Giessen and Lübeck. He has been working at the UKSH site there since 1999, since 2009 as head of the infection outpatient clinic.
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Jauch-Chara is the medical director of the Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, the Center for Integrative Psychiatry ZIP of the UKSH in Kiel. She has been Professor of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel since 2017. Before that, she was the senior physician at the ZIP in Lübeck. She also received her habilitation at the University of Lübek.
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Kerstin from the ceiling
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Since 2010, Von derdecke has been professor of public law with a focus on international law, European law and general political science at the University of Kiel. Before that, she was a professor at the University of St. Gallen for six years. She studied in Bonn, Aix-en-Provence and Trier, where she also became a research assistant, did her doctorate and qualified as a professor.
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Felbermayr has been President of the Institute for World Economy and Professor of Economics at Kiel University since 2019. He studied economics in Linz and did his doctorate in Florence. He then worked as a management consultant at McKinsey in Vienna. After stints at the University of Tübingen and the University of Hohenheim near Stuttgart, he finally became Professor of International Economics at the University of Munich in 2010.
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Further information
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Experts have presented their view of the pandemic situation to the members of the state parliament. Urgent appeals included. more
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The state government wants to come out of lockdown in four stages. Eleven experts in the state parliament gave their opinion on this perspective plan. more
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Here you will find videos, information and background information on the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus in Schleswig-Holstein. more
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Schleswig-Holstein magazine
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Schleswig-Holstein Magazine | 03/01/2021 | 19:30 o’clock