Surprisingly little can be heard from Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger (FW) on this Tuesday, on which the state government announced far-reaching tightening of the corona measures. The only public statement on the topic comes at 2:11 p.m. by email, in which: approval. Today’s changes by the Council of Ministers regarding the corona regulations for young people and body-hugging services are to be welcomed, Aiwanger is quoted in a statement from his ministry. “It is gratifying that we have today adapted some regulations for young people and services to make them more practical, after we received requests for changes from the population on these topics in the past few days.” In this way, underage pupils will in future be allowed to go to school for club sports in gyms or music clubs, “even if 2G is generally prescribed there”.
Aiwanger is cured at home
Even if 2G is generally prescribed: This not only affects young people particularly. Since Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) made Aiwanger’s vaccination status public without being asked, it has been a political issue. But Aiwanger does not say a word on Tuesday about the personal effects of the new 2-G and 3-G Plus rules. He does not answer the phone, he is absent from the cabinet press conference, and his state secretary replaces him at an appointment in the afternoon. This has nothing to do with the new requirements, says a ministry spokesman: Aiwanger is sick, tested negative for Corona and is now cured.
And yet what happened for a long time in view of the incidence of infections and corona discussions: Aiwanger’s vaccination status makes physical appearances difficult for him for the time being. As an economics minister, you usually get around a lot, visit corporations and start-ups, take part in round tables and dinners. But now employees of the Ministry of Economic Affairs also have to show their 3-G certificates if they want to work physically in the building on Munich’s Prinzregentenstrasse. 3G Plus or 2G applies to events. In the ministry, they don’t want all of this to be overstated. “Wherever 3G Plus applies, the Minister is happy to be there,” it says. “There’s nothing more to say about that.”
Instead, it was mainly Söder who spoke on Tuesday. He used the press conference after the cabinet to advertise again for vaccination. When asked what he would advise the footballer Joshua Kimmich from FC Bayern Munich – also unvaccinated – Söder said that Kimmich was certainly not a lateral thinker. But if he should get himself vaccinated, it could have an “enormous impetus and role model effect”. On the other hand, Söder lost just one sentence about his own cabinet: “We only have one person who is not vaccinated, and 3G Plus applies to him.”
The Prime Minister – but that’s pure speculation – could probably also imagine a 2-G rule for his cabinet.