The claim
Many media and some politicians are currently quoting Germany's chief virologist: "Christian Drosten considers the corona pandemic to be over." They demand an “end to all measures”.
Our conclusion
This statement can easily be misunderstood. Christian Drosten believes that Covid-19 has entered an endemic, i.e. locally limited, phase this winter. This does not automatically mean that we can immediately drop all protective measures.
Germany's best-known virologist and head of virology at the Berlin Charité recently gave an interview to the Tagesspiegel , which was published on December 26th together with the opinions of two other experts. That wouldn't be anything unusual if it hadn't raised eyebrows about a statement that has since been quoted many times. Christian Drosten is quoted verbatim: “This winter we are experiencing the first endemic wave of Sars-Cov-2, in my opinion the pandemic is over.”
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What does Christian Drosten mean by that?
Endemic means local, occurring in a region. The prefix “pan” denotes something that goes beyond, that affects everything. Covid-19 has so far spread across national borders and globally. It was therefore pandemic. When Christian Drosten speaks of an “endemic wave”, he initially sees the danger of global mass outbreaks as averted. He assumes that after this winter the immunity in the population will be so high that “the virus will hardly be able to get through in the summer,” as the Tagesspiegel writes. The only contraindication to this would be a new mutational jump, which he no longer expects at the moment.

However, the word endemic does not imply any assessment of the further danger of the disease. The term simply means that the primary responsibility for containment and countermeasures is better left to local decision-makers. And it does not mean that Sars-Cov-2 will not cause further problems in the future: it is more likely that - as with the flu - seasonal waves will occur. The Robert Koch Institute assumes that older people and those with previous illnesses will still be particularly affected by severe cases and that measures such as repeated vaccinations will therefore remain necessary.
Intensive care physician Christian Karagiannidis, who is also a member of the Federal Government's Corona Expert Council, argues very similarly to Drosten:
Yes, I firmly expect that the pandemic is now increasingly easing. It's like a stone that you throw into the water and it creates a very high wave at the beginning, which then gets smaller and smaller. It's the same with the pandemic at the moment. We will certainly experience one or two small waves. But we notice that the population's immunity is solid and we have significantly fewer Covid patients in the intensive care units. Influenza is now the bigger problem.
Christian Karagiannidis on December 26th in an interview with RND
The end of all Covid measures?
And for the general public? Maintaining or dropping measures is primarily a political decision. In the current discourse, Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann from the FDP has rushed ahead and called for the end of the last remaining protective measures. He receives flank protection from Bremen's Prime Minister Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD): "If the pandemic becomes an epidemic, then it makes sense to hand the responsibility for infection protection back to the people." Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst (CDU), thinks similarly: “People now have a high level of routine in dealing with the coronavirus. That’s why they don’t need any behavioral recommendations from politicians, especially in the private sector.”
But what other measures does this actually affect? Hanno Charisius shed light on the question in his commentary for the Süddeutsche Zeitung: “Obligation to isolate Corona-positive people in some countries? Is it compulsory to wear a mask on public transport in some places? On Deutsche Bahn trains?” Are these latest measures really a “burden for society”? He warns that, on the one hand, everyone would understand the term “pandemic” differently and that the situation would not be under control everywhere – see China. In addition, Corona is not the only problem this season, as Drosten and Karagiannidis have already emphasized:
It would be disastrous to demand an end to all protective measures that were put in place against Corona, but also protect against other pathogens, in the middle of this winter, which is producing a record number of respiratory infections. You can think about new names for the measures, Corona is currently only suitable to a limited extent. But ending it now would be a mistake. One that costs human lives.
Hanno Charisius on December 27th, 2022 in the SZ
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Posted by ruthe.de at the Thursday, December 29, 2022
Sources: Tagesspiegel , SZ , FAZ , RND , DW.com , ZDF.de , Marco Buschmann on Twitter
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