In Bavaria, too, as in the other federal states, there will soon no longer be an FFP-2 mask requirement – instead, so-called medical masks should be allowed to be used again. This was announced by Prime Minister and CSU boss Markus Söder on Thursday when he presented his Corona timetable. According to reports, the planned equation of the two mask types should apply everywhere to public areas such as interiors, e.g. also for local transport and restaurants. Local handicraft products, such as those used makeshiftly at the beginning of the pandemic, are unlikely to be subject to the change. Details remained open at first, they are expected next week.
Overall, Söder promised new corona rules with a move away from incidence; He already promised this in recent interviews. There should be a “hospital traffic light” so that future measures will be based on factors such as intensive care bed occupancy. These are still declarations of intent, in the coming days the details will be worked out with Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU), among others. The next meeting of the Bavarian cabinet will take place on Tuesday, when the rules will also be discussed with the coalition partner Free Voters. So far, however, hardly any points of contention are foreseeable.
“We will give a simpler and more understandable regulation on the way,” said Söder. He emphasized that the basis of the corona policy remains the 3-G principle, which has been in force since this week, with freedom for those who have been vaccinated, those who have recovered and those who have been tested. There will be no further, classic lockdown, this is “not proportionate” and especially not to be expected of those who have been vaccinated. The guideline of the state government will be a better “balance between personal responsibility and security”.
The fourth wave is there, said the Prime Minister, but it is different from waves one to three: the incidence is increasing (Bavaria-wide now to more than 50), but this correlates little with deaths and hospital occupancy – for which Söder blames the vaccination. Therefore, the government wants to push the vaccination strategy further, “we will expand low-threshold offers wherever possible”. The information from skeptics should also be improved through an “offer of reconciliation”. Since the two basic ideas of fighting a pandemic – “protection of life” and no overloading of the health system – are currently being fulfilled “relatively well”, the new system is needed.
For the clinic traffic light with green-yellow-red it is necessary to define a number of beds that indicates critical areas. According to Söder, red should be roughly the capacity utilization of the intensive care beds, “as they were once during the peak phases”. In addition, factors such as the Long Covid cases could flow into the new methodology, but the exact procedure for this is still open, this is “more difficult”.
It is still unclear what exactly will go on with clubs and discos, one of the few industries with no prospects. Most recently, Söder had named October as the target at which Bavaria’s dance floors could reopen for guests. He’ll hold on to that for now; but initially the state government wants to wait for school to begin and the subsequent developments. The 3-G system may be expanded in discos – with the submission of a PCR test.
In schools, the mask requirement is to remain “temporarily” in the classroom, said Söder. The tests are also important: three tests per week are planned in secondary schools, so-called lolli tests are to be introduced in elementary and special schools. In the case of the latter, it will also be checked to what extent they can be used for day-care centers. Söder announced that the quarantine rules would also be revised: It would be “not proportionate” if the entire school class had to go into isolation in the event of an infection.
At the press conference at the CSU headquarters, Söder also spoke about the federal election campaign. The Union with Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet (CDU) recently ranked 22 to 23 percent in surveys, on par with the SPD, in one survey it was even overtaken by the Social Democrats. The CSU also fell in surveys for Bavaria, in one case below 35 percent. He felt, said Söder, that “the mood in the country is clouded, not euphoric”. But in September there is a “historic fork in the road” – whether there is a bourgeois government or a “left slide”, “a completely different direction”. In addition to red-red-green, an SPD-led classic traffic light also falls under the category. A “basic philosophy” based on tax increases and debts can then be expected. The Union, on the other hand, stands for the “lasting path of balanced budgetary policy, sooner rather than later”.
Söder expressed his support for Laschet, but also blamed the negative national trend for the bad values of the CSU. In the coming weeks, his party will, among other things, focus on tax policy, specifically: a reduction in corporate taxes and compensation for the rising consumer taxes for citizens.