A German Professor suggested steps for lifting the quarantine: to isolate the elderly, infect the young

German epidemiologist Alexander von stradonitz urged the German government to cancel because of the limitations of the coronavirus, previously infecting young people with coronavirus. His plan he announced in an interview with British newspaper The Telegraph, which was released on April 11.

Professor von stradonitz – doctor of medical Sciences, Director of the Institute of medical Microbiology, Halle-Wittenberg University.

In January, von stradonitz warned that the coronavirus would spread through Europe and urged the Federal government to start a check arriving in the country citizens. He believes that if the testing and tracing chains of infection began in the beginning of the year, the epidemic could be contained without restrictions. The decision to impose a quarantine in March, Professor supported. In his opinion, it was the only option to slow the spread of the virus and prevent the congestion of hospitals.

But now, says von stradonitz, you need to think about the lifting of restrictions, because a long lock can do more harm than the virus. According to the forecasts of epidemiologists, a vaccine can be developed not earlier than six months, but the more realistic time frame of about a year. Society can not “grounded” from six months to a year, he said. “If we do this, our society and our culture will be destroyed,” said von stradonitz.

He offers three steps. The first is to leave the isolation of older people who are the most vulnerable to the virus. For this we need to find a way to make it more comfortable, for example, run applications that you can use to order purchase. To go outside they need only protection class FFP. The second is to move from social distancing to the “intellectual distancing”. He believes that the distance necessary to adapt to the situation. For example, the cashier in the supermarket’s checkout is in a zone of risk, so he needs to constantly wear a mask. In fact, all people should get used to wearing the masks, said the Professor. On the walk, as noted by von stradonitz, as they are not necessary, but in any room of people should be wearing masks. The third step (the paper calls him the most controversial) – to infect the virus the young. People younger than 50 years, said the Professor, “is unlikely to die or seriously ill, therefore they should be allowed to get, so they can develop immunity”.

Quarantine was introduced in Germany in mid-March. The country closed schools and most public institutions. At the end of March restrictions were tightened – citizens were forbidden to gather more than two.

April 9, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the data about the dissemination of coronavirus infections in the country give grounds for “cautious hope.” She stressed that the situation remains “fragile”, so you need to get back to normal “small steps”, is gradually removing restrictions.

Director of the world health organization tedros adhanom Ghebreyesus said on 10 April that in the most affected by the coronavirus European countries such as Spain, Italy, Germany and France, has slowed the epidemic.

According to data from the Robert Koch Institute, as of 13 April in Germany 123 016 confirmed cases of infection with coronavirus, 2799 died.

Flash coronavirus infection COVID-19 began in December 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan. March 11, 2020, the who announced the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. According to information of the American Johns Hopkins University, in the world of 1.85 million confirmed cases of infection with coronavirus, more than 438 thousand patients have recovered, 114 979 died.