Berlin considers rebuilding its Corona traffic lights

In view of the debate about the significance of the corona incidence in the course of the vaccination campaign, an adjustment of threshold values in the traffic light system of the Berlin Senate could be imminent. A spokesman for the health administration said in response to a question that the issue was being discussed with the federal government, the states and experts.

According to the current definition, the Corona traffic light shows yellow from 20 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days - and red from 30. Berlin is heading for the 30 marks; on Tuesday, the value was 24.8 after a prolonged rise.The thresholds of 20 and 30 had been set in May 2020. The Senate's warning system, which is displayed in the online situation report, takes into account a total of three indicators: seven-day incidence, intensive care units and weekly incidence trend.

As the Senate announced when it introduced the early warning system, double yellow means the issue should be discussed; double red means urgent action is needed. In Tuesday's situation report, the traffic light showed yellow twice, green once.

Experts point out that the vaccination campaign changes the significance of the incidence because the severity of the disease is reduced. Previously, it was considered a value with which the subsequent hospital burden could be estimated at an early stage.

In the federal government, the incidence has been the basis for many Corona restrictions, such as under the federal emergency brake that expired at the end of June. In the future, other values such as hospital admissions will also be taken more into account nationwide. With the traffic light system, Berlin was in this respect already further, it was said from the health administration.

In the capital, it is mainly younger people who are currently infected - in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, for example, the incidence among 20- to 24-year-olds is more than 180 - but the utilization of intensive care units has so far been low.

There had already been a change in the Corona traffic light last week: The fluctuation-prone reproduction number (R-value) is now no longer part of it after it was no longer transmitted by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), according to a statement from the health administration. It has been replaced by the weekly trend percentage of the seven-day incidence - which has thus further strengthened the weighting of the incidence for the time being.On the subject of incidence, German Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) had recently pointed out that 75 percent of people over 60 are currently fully vaccinated, while a quarter is not. "If you take the measure, they can say 200 is the new 50."

Image by Alexandra Koch