The German government stops monitoring wastewater due to COVID-19

The Socialist World Website previously described Germany’s 2025 federal budget as a “war budget dictated by capital.” While billions are being spent on armaments and weapons packages for Ukraine and Israel, massive cuts are being made to health and social services, including the planned cancellation of epidemic monitoring of wastewater for COVID-19 and other pathogens.

Flowchart for wastewater sampling (Photo by authors of the study: Eline F.de Jonge, Céline M.Peterse, Jaap M. Koelewijn, Anne-Merel R. van der Drift, Rudolf FHJ van der Beek, Erwin Nagelkerke, Willemijn J. Lodder / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Commissioned in 2022, the “Wastewater Monitoring for Epidemiological Situation Assessment” (Amelag) examines wastewater samples from up to 175 sewage treatment plants across the country, looking for gene copies of coronaviruses on a weekly basis. Even if it is not possible to determine the exact incidence, Amelag provides information on whether the infection rate is increasing or decreasing and where outbreaks are occurring. Waves of infection can also be recognized at an early stage.

Especially since the abolition of mandatory personal testing and all other measures to protect against the coronavirus, wastewater monitoring is one of the most informative tools for determining the status of the pandemic. The planned elimination of this crucial public health program illustrates the aggression and criminality with which the ruling class is enforcing the ‘forever COVID’ policy. Not only does it spread the lie that the pandemic is over, it also seeks to eliminate any data that proves otherwise.

Amelag’s federal funding expires at the end of this year and there are no plans to renew it. A spokesperson for Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (Social Democrat, SPD) confirmed: “Unfortunately, funds for the continued supervision of wastewater cannot be included in the government’s federal draft for the time being.” Although “attempts were made in the course of parliamentary deliberations to obtain funding for the continuation”, it is quite clear that these are just empty words. In government questions in the Bundestag (parliament), Lauterbach tried to shift financing to the municipalities, which are currently already in debt. “The federal government is not responsible for all sensible spending,” he explained.

Last year, Lauterbach announced the cancellation of funding for research into Long Covid and the development of therapies and drugs to combat it. The reduction from €100 million to €21 million was justified with claims of a ‘tight budget situation’. So he made it clear where this canceled money went: to military armaments, the only part of the budget that was significantly increased. Regarding the continued operation of Amelag, the public health organization of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) explained that only 5 million euros per year would be needed – i.e. 0.8 percent of the sum of Germany’s most recent military aid package for Ukraine.

A petition addressed to the Federal Ministry of Health change.org under the title “Stop the end of AMELAG! Germany needs modern epidemiology” already has more than 4,500 signatures. It explains: “Modern epidemiological surveillance is based on collecting data as quickly, comprehensively and unbureaucratically as possible. As the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic shows, modern surveillance systems are more necessary than ever in a globalized world affected by the overexploitation of natural resources.” The petition goes on to denounce the government’s abolition of all measures, noting: “Contrary to the experience of modern medicine, for the first time in human history we are relying on individual responsibility to prevent a pandemic to overcome.”

Many signatories of the petition write in their explanation that the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over and that they themselves have already become ill from Long Covid.

How drastic the situation is is also evident from the figures for the emerging corona wave in the autumn. According to the RKI’s latest weekly report on acute respiratory diseases (ARI), 7.4 million people are currently suffering from acute respiratory diseases – a particularly high level for this time of year. COVID-19 is directly responsible for approximately 22 percent of this. However, it is quite clear that the unchecked spread of COVID has weakened the immune systems of millions of people in recent months and years. This also makes them more likely to become ill with other forms of ARI.

COVID-19 currently accounts for 17 percent of severe ARI cases, although there are clear age differences: COVID-19 is responsible for 30 percent of severe respiratory illnesses among the over 80 age group.

COVID wastewater levels have risen sharply since mid-September. Last week, 239,000 gene copies were measured per liter of wastewater, compared to 185,000 the week before. The viral load has doubled in the past four weeks. According to GrippeWeb, which collects data on the incidence of infections based on information from a testing group of volunteers, the estimated COVID incidence is currently around 1,100.

The number of hospital admissions is also increasing slightly and now amounts to a seven-day incidence of four hospital admissions per 100,000 inhabitants. The number of deaths rose to 129 last week, compared to around 80 per week in previous weeks.

The dominant variant is currently KP.3.1.1, accounting for 41 percent of infections. The recombinant sublines now account for 27 percent, with virologists estimating that XEC has about twice the growth advantage of KP.3.1.1 and will be the dominant variant in winter.

In Great Britain, British GP Helen Wall reported in a recent interview with the Manchester evening News that in her practice she has observed a difference between XEC and previous infections. Anyone infected with this variant should be prepared to feel “knocked out”. She explained: “Previous symptoms were more like cough and cold symptoms, but at the moment Covid seems to be really knocking people out.”

The long-term effects of COVID-19 are also increasingly discussed. Broadcaster SWR recently published one report on the occasion of the first anniversary of the post-COVID outpatient clinic in Mainz. Internist Christoph Lembens, who was interviewed, reports that more than a thousand patients have already been treated in these twelve months. The appointment agenda was still fully booked until well into the spring.

Lembens estimates that about a fifth of his patients have not recovered from their COVID infections. This affects not only older people with previous illnesses, but also many younger people. Those affected suffer from exhaustion and fatigue. Some of them also have severe circulatory fluctuations, for example an extreme drop in blood pressure as soon as they stand up, which can cause them to simply fall over.

For many, it gets worse: they can also have major muscle problems, making some patients dependent on a wheelchair. Many have cognitive impairment, including “brain fog,” which makes it extremely difficult to concentrate or remember things.

These reports illustrate the criminal nature of the ruling class’ “forever COVID” policy, which has condemned hundreds of millions of people worldwide to long-term damage to their health so that the profits keep flowing.