Meanwhile in Germany, the Berliner Zeitung reported that there are 'no known cases of recovered in the ICUs'

Something is very rotten in Health Minister Lauterbach's mind as he appears hellbent of turning Germany in Greater Covidistan

While the situation in Covidistan continues to be overly dynamic, here’s some more information from neighbouring Germany, which might soon turn into Greater Covidistan: a federal vaccination mandate will be discussed in the Bundestag on 14 Feb. 2022, and it is the wet dream of Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, perhaps driven by mad ambition not to become out-fascisted by his no-less-ignominious counterpart Mückstein.

Today’s last post contains wo items of varying length.

At first, kudos to reader, author, and frequent commentator cm27874, who informed me about a nice twist he or she noticed in German ‘alternative-to-independent’ media. Ach-Gut, short for Die Achse des Guten (the Axis of Good, see here) was quite impressed by the Austrian Constitutional Court’s show of a (possible) backbone and lamented the fact that no jurists of comparable bony features were found in Germany these days.

I feel your sorrow. Let’s hope some will come forward before too long.

Secondly, I wish to draw your attention to the seemingly perennial zombie of the moniker of ‘the pandemic of the unvaccinated’, for which we turn to the Berliner Zeitung and a piece that appeared on 28 Jan. 2022, and which addresses the seemingly touchy subject of natural immunity. All bold emphases are mine; note that I’ve lightly edited the translation for clarity.

Doctors: ‘No known cases of recovered in the ICUs’

Virologists and physicians are concerned about the reduction of the validity of the recovered status: protection after infection is comparable to protection after vaccination

The shortening of the recovered status is causing increasing criticism. Several physicians, doctors, and virologists expressed their lack of understanding for the decision of [Health Minister] Karl Lauterbach and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). A new statement by a group of experts around infectious disease specialist Matthias Schrappe, MD, says: ‘In Italy, France, and Austria, the recovered status is valid for six months, while in Switzerland it is valid even for twelve months, if sufficient immunity is proven by an antibody test after three months.’ The fact that the recovered status in Germany has been shortened to three months is ‘scientifically difficult to understand, and the studies cited by the RKI to substantiate this step do not change this’.

The Ministry of Health had announced: ‘The duration of the recovered status was reduced from six months to 90 days, as the scientific evidence to date indicates that unvaccinated individuals have reduced and even more limited protection against a renewed infection with Omicron after having been infected.’ Yet, medical statistician Gerd Antes told the news portal Focus Online: ‘The studies cited by the RKI are not suitable to justify a reduction of the convalescent status to three months.’

The RKI’s move was even criticised by members of the Federal Government’s Expert Advisory Board. Board member Hendrik Streeck tells Focus Online that he sees a ‘need for discussion’ regarding the shortening of the duration of recovered status. The data are confusing ‘with the different virus variants and the possible combinations of recovered and vaccinated persons, i.e., recovered from an Alpha infection and reinfected with Omicron’. Nevertheless, all data would show that protection for those who have recovered from a severe course of disease after a Corona infection is ‘very good’. Protection [of recovered] against Covid-19 infection is even ‘comparable to protection after vaccination’.

Doctor: we need to distinguish between a positive test and serious illness

According to the report [by the Health Ministry], neither the RKI nor the Federal Ministry of Health could answer an enquiry about how many recovered people had to be treated in hospital or ICUs after re-infection. Thomas Voshaar, head of the lung clinic at the Bethanien Hospital in Moers, asked 17 hospitals in Germany: in Berlin, the Stuttgart area, Solingen, Kleve, Cologne, Kassel, Nuremberg, Berlin, Dortmund, Hamburg, Hanover and in Moers. 13 hospitals provided the doctor with information. The results are in, according to Voshaar: ‘Apart from a few cases in a normal ward and an unclear status, there were no seriously ill patients in the hospitals and there are no records of previously infected and recovered patients treated for Covid-19 in ICUs.’

For Voshaar, the results of his enquiries are clear evidence that an overcome infection offers good protection against Covid-19. The shortening of the validity of the recovered status is thus medically difficult to justify. It is fatal, the physician tells Focus, that ‘we still do not have enough data to be able to make such far-reaching decisions on a solid basis’. One must ‘distinguish very clearly’ whether one is talking about a reinfection or only a positive test result, or whether a new infection of a recovered person with Sars-Cov-2 leads to a severe disease.