After six months, the state government lifted the disaster for the corona pandemic from Wednesday; this K-case in Bavaria was recently extended to deal with the flow of refugees from the Ukraine. This was announced by State Chancellery Minister Florian Herrmann (CSU) on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting.
It is initially an organizational instrument with which the agreements between the state level and municipalities should run smoothly, for example in the distribution of patients on hospital beds; it also regulates, for example, the regular meetings of crisis teams at various levels of the state. At the same time, this K-case also has a symbolic meaning – the omission underlines the recent course of the state government for corona easing in almost all areas of social life.
In Bavaria, 192 intensive care beds are now occupied by corona patients, a week ago there were 225. The Bavarian clinic traffic light introduced in 2021, whose threshold values are still a guideline for the government, provided for a red warning level at 600 occupancies. In the high phase last winter, when patients from Bavaria had to be flown to other federal states, there were more than 1000.
The head of the state chancellery sees Bavaria on the “way back to normality”
The intensive occupancy is now considered to be the hardest indicator of the corona situation: the incidence is hardly reliable, especially because of the milder omicron variant and the lack of tests; Neither is the positive testing of patients on normal wards of hospitals, since people are often admitted there not because of Corona, but with it. He sees “all in all in connection with Corona the way back to normality,” Herrmann said the previous week. On Tuesday, he also justified the deletion of the K case with the workload of the special structures such as the crisis teams.
Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) announced that, also with a view to possible corona waves in autumn, certain aspects of these K-case structures would be “underpinned” by an amendment to the hospital law. However, other preparations for the fall have also started, so the vaccination centers would basically be maintained in order to “control the offer very flexibly” if necessary. It is also about early warning systems and instruments for monitoring a possible renewed occurrence of infection.
A working group against anti-Semitism
In addition, the Council of Ministers dealt with an overall concept for “Jewish life and the fight against anti-Semitism” on Tuesday. An interministerial working group, which reports regularly to Prime Minister Markus Söder’s cabinet, is intended to bring important actors together; Among others, the specialist representative of the state government and former Minister of Education Ludwig Spaenle (CSU) will be there.
The Free State will set up an online portal that will network many offers to promote Jewish life and show ways of countering anti-Semitism. One wanted to “send a signal”, summarized Minister of Education Michael Piazolo (FW). Minister of Justice Georg Eisenreich (CSU), currently also chairman of the conference of justice ministers of the federal states, said on Tuesday: “Hatred of Jews has reached an alarming level.” Nationwide, there were 2,351 registered anti-Semitic crimes in 2021, a “high”.