Pressure on the unvaccinated
Austria as a model? Call for nationwide 2G rule is getting louder
“Vaccinated! Recover!” says a sign on a bar in Dresden’s Neustadt district. Calls for 2G rules throughout Germany are getting louder.
© Robert Michael / DPA
Austria is showing the way: People without a corona vaccination will soon no longer be allowed to visit bars, hairdressers and events in the neighboring country. And in Germany, too, there are more and more voices calling for a tougher pace.
After the tightening of the corona rules in Austria, the call for stronger restrictions for unvaccinated people is also getting louder in Germany. Medical President Klaus Reinhardt demands that in this country only those who have been vaccinated or recovered are allowed to visit restaurants, events or cinemas. The general manager of the German Association of Cities, Helmut Dedy, made a similar statement. SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach calls for the 2G rule to “best apply in all areas that are not part of daily needs like grocery stores or drugstores”.
In the fight against the fourth corona wave, Austria decided on Friday to introduce a nationwide 2G rule. People without a vaccination are no longer allowed to visit bars, hairdressers and events from Monday. The same applies to access to tourist businesses. “It is simply our responsibility to protect the people in our country,” said Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP), explaining the drastic steps. In Austria, too, the number of new infections has recently risen sharply.
If necessary, lockdown measures for the unvaccinated
In Germany, as of Monday, Saxony will be the first federal state to implement the 2G rule in parts of public life across the board and in a mandatory manner. This means that only those who have recovered and who have been vaccinated have access to indoor restaurants, discos or leisure and cultural facilities. Large events such as football in stadiums are also affected, but not retail or church services.
The President of the German Medical Association called on politics nationwide to act. “We now need clear rules to break the chains of infection,” said Reinhardt of the “Passauer Neue Presse” (Saturday). “Visits to restaurants, events or the cinema, for example, should only be reserved for those who have recovered and who have been vaccinated.”
If necessary, lockdown measures are even necessary for unvaccinated people: “When it comes to securing inpatient care, I find that justified. After all, it is currently mainly the unvaccinated people who have to be treated with severe Covid courses in the clinics”, said Reinhardt. The workplace must also become safer. “That means: vaccinated, recovered or tested.”
Demand for free rapid tests – also for vaccinated people
The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder made a similar statement. “3G is mandatory in the workplace all over Germany,” said the CSU boss to the newspapers of the Funke media group (Saturday). “And employers must have the right to ask if employees have been vaccinated or have taken a test.” In some Corona hotspots in the Free State, the 2G rule is already being used. Bavaria is one of the federal states with the highest corona incidences.
Söder also advocates offering rapid tests on a larger scale free of charge again. “Unfortunately, we find that the introduction of the obligation to pay has hardly increased the willingness to vaccinate,” said the CSU boss. “People who have been vaccinated must also have the opportunity to be tested again without any financial expense.” This demand also comes from retailers and restaurants.
Medical officers are urging a significant expansion of the rapid tests for vaccinated people. “The higher the incidences are now, the more necessary it is that vaccinated people are tested in addition to the unvaccinated”, said the chairwoman of the Federal Association of Doctors of the Public Health Service, Ute Teichert, the Funke newspapers (Saturday). She pointed out that vaccination and testing are completely different things: “If you are vaccinated, you can still carry the virus and pass it on, even if you don’t get sick yourself.”
Lauterbach: Refrain from larger Christmas parties and carnivals
Dedy demanded that only vaccinated or recovered staff be used in nursing homes. As long as the countries cannot bring themselves to do this, there must be a daily test obligation for unvaccinated employees, he told the editorial network Germany (RND). He also advocated thinking about free corona tests again. “From our point of view, it would be even better to introduce 2G more consistently in the leisure sector.”
The spread of the coronavirus has recently accelerated rapidly. The health authorities in Germany reported record values for new infections, the seven-day incidence rose to 183.7 on Saturday morning, according to the Robert Koch Institute. In the fight against the fourth wave, the federal and state health ministers decided on Friday, among other things, broad booster vaccinations six months after the second injection, compulsory testing in nursing homes and more precise controls of access rules.
SPD health politician Lauterbach advises against larger Christmas and Carnival celebrations in view of the situation. The likely last big wave of the pandemic could still cost a great many human lives. “It is therefore important that people are more careful,” he told the “Rheinische Post”. “This includes avoiding company Christmas parties indoors as far as possible, celebrating Christmas in smaller groups and not going to the carnival.”