A study conducted by the health insurance company Barmer, which insures around nine million people throughout Germany, concludes that the AHA rule (distance, hygiene, everyday mask) has ensured that this year there are noticeably fewer people suffering or have suffered from respiratory diseases and therefore had to be written off sick. For the analysis of the Barmer, the study commissioners chose the study period from mid-August to early October 2020 and compared it with the same period last year. According to the study, far fewer people fell ill with respiratory diseases this year, which cannot be explained by the weather. From mid-August to early October 2019, there was a numerical increase in respiratory infections of 33,439 to 57,613, which represents a percentage increase of 138 percent, as only 24,174 people with respiratory diseases were on sick leave in mid-August 2019. This year, at the beginning of the same period, the number of people infected and sick with respiratory diseases was only 18,802. An additional 18,975 people were written off sick, so that at the beginning of October a total of 37,777 insured persons with sick notes were sent home by their doctor to be cured; this was an increase of only 101 percent. The AHA rule therefore helps to get the pandemic under control. However, distance, hygiene and everyday masks can also protect against other respiratory diseases and even against influenza, as the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) found out at the beginning of the corona pandemic, because in spring of this year, influenza activity subsided earlier than usual and also more quickly. The protective measures can also largely prevent a renewed viral or bacterial infection.
Source: DAZ