Corona hotspots: Not even one in ten is infected

Lisa Vogel studied departmental journalism with a focus on medicine and biosciences at Ansbach University and deepened her journalistic knowledge in the master's degree in multimedia information and communication. This was followed by a traineeship in the editorial team. Since September 2020 she has been writing as a freelance journalist for

More posts by Lisa Vogel All content is checked by medical journalists.

Even the places that had many infections in the first wave are far from an infection of the population with the corona virus. According to a study in Bad Feilnbach in Upper Bavaria, not even one in ten had an infection.

The vast majority of the population has not been infected with the virus at so-called corona hotspots either. In Bad Feilnbach in Upper Bavaria, for example, six percent of adults had antibodies against the Sars-CoV-2 virus and therefore had an infection, according to a study by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) published on Tuesday. The tests with 2153 adults from June 23 to July 4 showed 2.6 times more infections than previously known. There were about 160 cases among 6,900 adult residents. The majority of the population has not yet gone through the infection, said study director Claudia Santos-Hövener.

Bad Feilnbach in the Rosenheim district was the second commune severely affected by Corona after Kupferzell in Baden-Württemberg, in which the RKI tested residents for the virus. 7.7 percent of the tested antibodies were found in copper cells. Because antibodies can often not be detected in people who have been proven to be infected with Corona, the actual proportion of people who were already infected with Sars-CoV-2 was probably noticeably higher at a good ten percent.

After infection: antibodies drop

For this reason, the estimated percentage of infected people in Bad Feilnbach is higher at an extrapolated 8.6 percent, as Santos-Hövener said. Antibodies could not be detected in around 40 percent of adults who had a positive test. In Kupferzell that was 28 percent. The reason for the difference could be that tests were carried out earlier after the first wave - and antibodies were more likely to be detectable. Because these sink down again after a while.

The scientists emphasized that a lack of antibodies does not necessarily mean that there is no immunity.When this exists, how long it lasts and whether there are second infections are unresolved questions.

About 15 percent remained symptom-free

The study also found that 14.5 percent survived the infection without symptoms such as shortness of breath, cough, or bad taste or smell. This roughly corresponded to the proportion in Kupferzell with 16.8 percent.

The idea from the beginning that there would be a big wave and an infection and that the pandemic would then be over cannot be maintained, said Osama Hamouda, head of the department for infection epidemiology at the RKI. "We have increasing numbers of cases worldwide. We are very concerned about that." Many cases - around 70 percent in the Rosenheim area - are related to travelers returning. "We must continue to restrict our contacts and wear masks. The coronavirus will not go away anytime soon."

Further studies needed

In a known case from China, in which a person is alleged to have been infected with the corona virus a second time, Hamouda said it could be a slightly different virus strain. The defense could then not be sufficient. It remains to be seen whether genetic changes will make the virus less aggressive or more dangerous.

Further results of the study, including on routes of infection, are to be published by the end of the year. The third study on "local corona monitoring" is to start on September 8th in Straubing in Lower Bavaria. The fourth location has not yet been determined.

There are several antibody studies nationwide. Results, for example, in the severely affected Gangelt in the North Rhine-Westphalian district of Heinsberg and in Neustadt am Rennsteig in Thuringia pointed in a similar direction to the RKI study. A study by the Infection and Tropical Medicine Department at the LMU Klinikum Munich is still running in Munich. (lv / dpa)

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