Are the Robert Koch Institute’s COVID-19 leaks controversial – and if so, why?

Dear Simon

If your question is about whether the publication of the largely redacted RKI minutes has brought to light anything controversial or even scandalous regarding the management of the coronavirus pandemic in Germany: in my opinion, no. Rather, the minutes show that colleagues in Germany made recommendations to tackle the pandemic to the best of their knowledge and belief.

Many challenges – no scandals

The minutes help us to understand the challenges faced by a panel of experts during a pandemic. What is supposedly controversial mainly concerns communication issues – but not the substantive assessments and recommended measures.

A few examples:

1. The RKI had to issue risk assessments and recommendations in a context where our knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 was very patchy at the outset. They had to proceed cautiously – which, with hindsight, can easily be interpreted as ignorance or a conspiracy.
2. If one picks out individual sentences from the minutes and claims: ‘There you go, here’s a contradiction or even a conspiracy’, one fails to do justice to the complexity of the discussions. On the contrary, the minutes show just how comprehensively the RKI addressed the various issues. Coping with the flood of information whilst communicating effectively was an enormous challenge.
3. Operating at the interface between public health and politics meant that the RKI had an enormous task of integration and interpretation. In doing so, the risk of incomplete, misleading and delayed communication was high.

Two points for consideration

Firstly – the devil is in the detail. A key reason for the delay in making the minutes publicly available was the protection of personal data. Not all individuals named in the minutes had consented to the publication of their data.

Secondly – transparency is a valuable ally. Perhaps it would have been wiser to publish the minutes early on and as fully as possible. After all, apart from the general challenges of a pandemic, there is hardly anything truly controversial in them.

I hope I’ve been able to answer your question, even though I’ve focused more on why the leaks aren’t sensational.