Branch Covidian Advent Calendar, 13 Dec. 2023
The one in which Bild, Germany's largest tabloid, cheered about 'the return of the mask'
I suppose this is self-explanatory (saw it on Sunday, 10 Dec. 2023):
Bild Poll: Four out of Ten are Wearing Masks Again
The below piece comes to you in my translation, and with emphases added.
Urgent Corona Warning from Lauterbach
The Minister of Health Warns of a Massive Wave of Illness this Christmas
By Angelika Hellemann, Bild, 9 Dec. 2023 [source]
Watch out, the next corona wave is here—and with it, the alarm minister Karl Lauterbach (60, SPD) is back.
The health minister, himself a doctor, warns citizens in Bild:
Corona remains dangerous. It's not a cold that you can catch every season without hesitation. Rather, coronavirus often also affects the blood vessels or weakens the immune system, which is why it is far too often impossible to cure completely.
His urgent plea to everyone, not just the elderly and those with previous illnesses:
If you want to avoid illness under the Christmas tree as much as possible, you should get vaccinated as soon as possible in the next few days—preferably against flu and coronavirus at the same time.
Lauterbach advises anyone who wants to go away for Christmas or visit elderly family members to be careful and make sacrifices in everyday life. In the ‘last two weeks before the festive season’, these people should ‘avoid any form of infection as much as possible’. Otherwise, a coronavirus or flu infection could easily thwart their festive plans or become a danger for parents and grandparents.
Lauterbach's behavioural tips for the pre-Christmas period
Better to wear a mask again on the bus and train
More and more people are doing this again. According to a recent INSA survey for Bild (1004 respondents), 10% are wearing masks regularly this winter, 28% sometimes, and 58% not at all. [the silent majority is back]
It's best to avoid big indoor parties just before Christmas [would that incl., say, Church services, too?]
Now, if possible, stay in your home office rather than enjoying the company of one’s fellow employees [this is cumbersome, the original reads Bürogesellschaft, which literally means ‘office society’]
And: ‘If in doubt, it's better to do a corona test quickly before we meet older, sick people’ [is there a better way to show your frail loved ones that pathogens are out to get them than becoming pathologically insane?]
For Lauterbach, we shouldn't let viruses spoil the festive season: ‘Avoiding an infection is like an extra Christmas present.’
Bottom Lines Picture
Sometimes, words fail to convey what I wish to say, hence…
Lauterbach: Come March [2022], the unvaccinated will be ‘either vaccinated, recovered, or, sadly, dead’
Here’s the question for today: how does repeated lying affect one’s credibility?
The claimed 40% are nonsense. In shops, I estimate less than 10%; on other occasions, even less. We recently gave a concert (Mozart's requiem), with maybe 1% masked among the listeners.
Who does these surveys, and how? I remember another one from autumn, in which a third or more of the German population wanted to get a booster. Uptake so far is around 4% (and, if my anecdotal evidence is correct, mostly restricted to very old people with limited agency).
Can't they just wear hair-shirts instead?