“Some public pressure”
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Virologist Streeck questions corona lockdown
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Hendrik Streeck, director of the Institute of Virology at the University Hospital in Bonn, sits on the health committee of the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament. Archive photo.
Photo: dpa / Marcel Kusch
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Osnabrück / Bonn Bonn’s virologist Streeck is certain that if a second wave comes, “such strong measures” would not be taken again. Streeck also warns of incorrect handling of everyday masks.
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Virologist Hendrik Streeck has questioned the corona lockdown with its serious consequences in Germany. If a second wave came, Streeck said, “such strong measures” would not be taken again.
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After the early ban on major events, the number of infections had already dropped, the director of the Institute of Virology at the University Clinic Bonn told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” on Wednesday. “I would then have made the further measures such as contact restrictions dependent on the actual progress – also to see how the individual restrictions work and whether additional steps are really necessary.”
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Instead, Germany “went into the lockdown too quickly” because, in addition to concerns about the capacity of the hospitals, there was “a certain amount of public pressure,” criticized Streeck. If, contrary to his expectations, there will be another major corona outbreak, “one will certainly be careful not to take such strong measures again,” he said with conviction.
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Initially, almost all virologists agreed that Covid-19 “should not be trivialized, but should not be dramatized either”. The pictures from Italy and the USA as well as medical knowledge would have changed the view. “At the moment, however, we are again approaching the initial assessment,” said Streeck. The reason for the falling risk assessment is the large number of complications without consequences.
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“No different from the rest of the world,” Streeck also expects the wave to flatten out in the USA. “Things went so fast there, among other things, because Americans continue to work with cough and runny nose – there is not this form of sick leave as in Germany,” he said. As a result, there were significantly more infections than in Germany, said the virologist.
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“I still don’t think we’ll have more deaths in Germany at the end of the year than in other years,” said Streeck. He referred to the average age of the pandemic deaths of 81 years, which is “above average life expectancy”. Some people that Covid-19 spares in Germany instead die “from another virus or bacterium”.
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He is critical of the use of breathing masks in everyday life because of the often incorrect use. “People shove the masks into their pockets, hold them constantly and strap them over their mouths for two weeks, probably unwashed,” said Streeck of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. “This is a wonderful breeding ground for bacteria and fungi,” says the director of the Institute of Virology at the University Clinic in Bonn.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) also continues to be skeptical about the general wearing of simple mouth and nose protection in public. She had recently changed her previously critical attitude towards wearing mouthguards in the general population: self-made masks made of fabric or those from the supermarket are definitely recommended in public transport, shops and other facilities where a distance of at least one meter is not maintained can, it says in the recommendations published earlier this week.
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However, the organization again warned that such masks can also increase the risk of infection. For example, if the masks were often touched or temporarily pulled down to the chin and then again over the mouth and nose. In addition, a false sense of security could cause the wearer to wash their hands less often or to keep their distance. The masks only made sense if they were used properly and all other requirements were met, according to the WHO.
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The masks should therefore consist of three layers: an inner one made of cotton, a second made of a thermoplastic such as polypropylene and an outer made of polyester. They should only be handled with clean hands and only on the holders and washed once a day at at least 60 degrees or in a dilute chlorine solution. Medical masks are useful for healthcare workers, Covid 19 patients and their caregivers, and people over the age of 60 or previously, the WHO also said.
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