Status: 03.11.2021 5:16 p.m.
Baden-Württemberg has declared the so-called corona warning level. Unvaccinated people now have to present a PCR test in many places – and pay for it.
For Osman Madan, it’s good news and bad news at the same time. As managing director of Carls Brauhaus on Stuttgart’s Schlossplatz, he feared nothing as much as a new lockdown. He is relieved that politics is taking a different path – and worries about how stony this path will now be. Because although the new restrictions only affect the unvaccinated, Madan’s business could suffer significantly.
On average, 20 percent of his guests were neither vaccinated nor recovered. He will hardly be able to offer tables outside in autumn. “Then the 20 percent don’t stay away alone, but the whole group when they want to go out to eat and someone would have to do a PCR test,” explains the Stuttgart restaurateur. “And no one will pay for them. That won’t happen just to eat schnitzel.”
PCR tests cost up to 150 euros
The rapid antigen tests will no longer be sufficient in the future and the PCR tests are significantly more expensive. They cost around 50 to 150 euros, depending on the provider. The majority of those who are currently sitting in Carl’s brewery still consider this to be fair. “I don’t want everything to be turned on again: restaurants, bars and so on,” says Leon Heinrich. Then it is okay to introduce stricter rules. “I don’t see that people who have the opportunity to get vaccinated fill our hospitals,” says Eberhard Saar, who is sitting next door.
In fact, the first alarm calls are coming from the hospitals. “If the number of seriously ill Covid-19 cases continues to rise, operations will soon have to be postponed again,” explains Matthias Einwag from the Baden-Württemberg Hospital Association.
Minister sees “pandemic of the unvaccinated”
Many intensive care units are at their limit, says State Health Minister Manne Lucha. “We are currently experiencing a pandemic for the unvaccinated,” he says. Almost without exception, non-vaccinated people with a severe Covid course were in the intensive care units. “It is therefore clear that we have to start with the restrictions on the non-vaccinated. They are the drivers of the pandemic and put a strain on the health system.” In Baden-Württemberg, around a third of the population is not fully vaccinated. The number of new vaccinations has leveled off at a low level.
The new rules now apply to the unvaccinated: the obligation to take a PCR test, which must not be older than 48 hours, and contact restrictions. Those who do not have the vaccination are only allowed to meet a maximum of five other unvaccinated people. This does not apply to people under the age of 18 and people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons or for whom there is no vaccination recommendation.
In the pedestrian zone in front of Carls Brauhaus there are some who meet the new rules. “I now feel compelled to get vaccinated because it will now be very expensive for me,” says Daniel Borok. Ezra Aridag sees it similarly. “Vaccination should be something that you do voluntarily, something you stand for,” she says. She is afraid of the vaccination and therefore wants to wait a little longer.
Hope for an end to the pandemic
Inside the restaurant is the manager Osman Madan. He wants to stay out of politics, he says – and not spoil the mood for his guests. “It was important for me that the decision came from the state government so that I don’t have to position myself,” he explains.
He is only a host and does not want to be more than that. He can live with the looming losses in business. “We were closed for seven months. We’re doing everything that prevents us from having to close again.” And then, above all, he has one hope that the stricter rules actually help to finally overcome the pandemic.