German virologist Melanie Brinkmann (Technical University Braunschweig) said during a TV debate on April 8 that science had warned weeks and months ago of the situation concerning the more contagious variant B.1.1.7 of the coronavirus that originated in the U.K. “We made a clear appeal in January that this new variant was coming, that it would overtake, displace the virus that circulated before it, and that it had characteristics that would make it really hard for us to fight the pandemic again,” Brinkmann said. “And that was not heard. You just have to say that plainly.”
Instead, she said, the opposite was done: opening steps were allowed to happen when there were still too many infections spreading. The situation today is much more difficult, Brinkmann said, because “vaccination is there, but it is too slow and will not be able to stop this third wave,” and testing alone won’t suffice. A long-term perspective is lacking from the current management, she charged, warning that with the present non-strategy, Germany would be “in a permanent lockdown for the rest of the year.”
