There are a particularly large number of Covid-19 vulnerable people in the cancer ward, especially when blood stem cells are removed and transplanted, as here in Tübingen.
Image: dpa
The corona fear is returning, the uncertainty is growing. Where is the virus headed? Virologists have collected interesting information from a long-term infected patient.
Omikron has taken away the fear of the pandemic for many, but initially it doesn’t seem to work without bogeys: Two thirds of Germans are still worried about new, possibly more dangerous corona variants, in Spain, Italy and Portugal there are even more than three Quarter. Nevertheless, as the tenth Europe-wide survey of the “European Covid Survey” initiated by the University of Hamburg showed in May, the willingness to vaccinate is tending to decrease. However, vaccinating and boosting less means: more vaccination breakthroughs, more new and repeat infections, more viruses – and ultimately a greater risk of the spread of new Sars-CoV-2 variants.
The youngest omicron subvariant BA.5, which is currently causing concern in Germany and in many other countries because it is driving up the incidences and, in some cases, the number of deaths, is fueling the fear of variants. And yet it is not one that causes the potential for concern to increase exponentially on the part of experts. In laboratory experiments, documented in “Nature”, a somewhat “higher pulmonary mobility” than in the early omicrons has been determined. BA.5’s ability to evade our immunity by transforming the virus envelope molecules is also better, like BA.4 – from the virus’ point of view. However, experts still do not consider these measurable effects to be large enough to start a population-wide new wave of the pandemic. At least not a wave with an exorbitant number of hospital patients and fatal Covid 19 courses.