Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer (CSU) is against making corona tests for unvaccinated people chargeable soon. “As long as the pandemic lasts, I wouldn’t change anything about the free of charge. I want those who have neither been vaccinated nor recovered to have the chance of the test,” said Seehofer Central Bavarian Newspaper. “How many people do you think can no longer do or do the test if it is not free of charge? It could lead to a hidden infection process,” he warned.
Seehofer opposed the deliberations of Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD), Federal Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) and also the CSU leader and Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder. They had recently advocated no longer paying publicly for corona tests in the long run – if everyone who can be vaccinated has received a vaccination offer.
Seehofer strictly rejects any compulsory vaccination by companies for their employees. “I have a very allergic reaction when someone says: If you are not vaccinated, you will no longer be employed by us. Or because you are not vaccinated, you will not get health or life insurance. I can only warn you urgently.” He himself could “only advertise that you get vaccinated”, said Seehofer and emphasized: “The vaccination helps. To date, it is the best protection against a potentially fatal disease.” But one shouldn’t force it: “You don’t need a babble of voices every day, which threatens everything on the horizon if people don’t get vaccinated.” (29.07.2021)
Countries support compulsory testing for return travelers
Many country leaders support the proposal to introduce compulsory testing for travelers returning from abroad from August 1st, thereby increasing the pressure on the federal government. Most recently, the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) had said publicly that he had been assured that the test obligation, which is currently being debated in the federal government, would come as early as the weekend.
Brandenburg’s head of government Dietmar Woidke (SPD) told the TV broadcaster Phoenix that a decision had to be made as quickly as possible and not until the middle or end of August. Berlin’s governing mayor Michael Müller (SPD) told the editorial network Germany (RND): “The tests are the central building block to curb the infection rate in the unvaccinated population.” Therefore, all travelers returning should be able to present either a negative test, proof of recovery or proof of vaccination.
Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer emphasized that it was known from last year that those returning from travel contributed a lot to the increase in the number of infections. “It is a little extra effort for each of us, but creates a lot of security,” said the CDU politician to the RND. At the address of the federal government, the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) said on Deutschlandfunk that they could have prepared better. “To do that in September is of course much too late.” The Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer (SPD), told the RND that she expected the federal government to come up with a concept on how control and compliance with the mandatory test should be ensured.
Meanwhile, Söder reiterated his demands. In the ZDF program “Markus Lanz”, the Bavarian Prime Minister said on Wednesday evening that he was very much pushing for it to be done now. Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) and Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer (CSU) had already requested this last week, on Tuesday evening Söder increased the pressure to introduce mandatory testing by August 1st. Then travelers returning to Germany would have to show a negative corona test if they have not recovered or are fully vaccinated. This should apply to all holidaymakers, regardless of whether they are traveling by plane, train or their own car. So far, only air travelers have to show a negative corona test when entering Germany. The federal government had originally planned to introduce compulsory testing only from September 11th. At this point in time, the summer holidays have already come to an end in most of the federal states. (29.07.2021)
Intensive care physicians fear an increase in viral pathogens in addition to Corona
Intensive care physicians in Germany expect more people with various respiratory diseases again in autumn and winter. “By wearing masks and the other rules, the number of patients with flu and other viral pathogens during the Corona period was vanishingly low,” said the President of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (Divi), Gernot Marx German press agency. “We fear that this positive effect will now disappear and that we will look after the potential corona patients between October and March as well as the other patients with viral diseases.”
The number of patients is difficult to estimate, even before the Corona period, the values fluctuated from season to season. “But it is clear that flu and Covid-19 patients may need the same therapies, for example the artificial lung. The Ecmo capacity (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation; editor’s note) in Germany is very good in an international comparison, but every capacity has its limits. “According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), older people and those with certain basic diseases or severe obesity have an increased risk of a more severe course of flu pregnancy, especially at an advanced stage, increases this risk.
In an autumn-winter strategy for inpatient and outpatient care, the RKI recently warned early preparation “for an increased disease occurrence”, “also in view of the additional exposure to be expected from acute respiratory infections”, which will not be in the 2020/21 season the population are circulated. In addition to the flu, the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is also mentioned, a pathogen that is widespread worldwide and which, according to the RKI, can cause simple respiratory infections as well as serious illnesses. (29.07.2021)
RKI registers 3520 new corona infections – incidence at 16.0
The seven-day incidence has more than tripled in just over three weeks. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), it was 16.0 on Thursday – the previous day the value was 15.0 and the most recent low on July 6th was 4.9.
The health authorities in Germany reported 3142 new corona infections to the RKI within one day. A week ago the value was around 1900. According to the new information, 21 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours. A week ago there were 42 deaths. (29.07.2021)
Stamp: Only infected people should be in quarantine
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Deputy Prime Minister Joachim Stamp (FDP) has asked the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) to make a far-reaching change to the corona quarantine requirements. “Only those who are actually infected should be quarantined,” said the NRW Minister for Children and Family of the weekly newspaper The time. In his opinion, entire classes and groups, daycare centers or schools should no longer be quarantined in individual cases of infection. “Otherwise regular classes in the fall would be out of the question,” said the FDP politician.
This step would be a radical realignment of the fight against corona in Germany: Since the beginning of the pandemic, it has been and is the strategy of the authorities to find and isolate possible contact persons for infected people in order to prevent the pathogen from being passed on unnoticed. In schools and daycare centers, this often meant that in the event of a corona case, the whole class or group would be sent home for two weeks. In the meantime, however, an individual check is also carried out here to determine who was in close contact with an infected person and for how long. (07/28/2021)
Söder: Compulsory testing for all immigrants comes on August 1st
According to the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), the federal government is planning a mandatory test for everyone who enters Germany from August 1st. “The federal government has assured us today that it will try everything by August 1st with a uniform test requirement not only for air travel, but also, for example, for everything that comes on a normal car route or train route,” said Söder in the “Tagesthemen” of the ARD. He thinks that is now more understandable, clearer and safer. The originally planned date for an entry regulation from September 11th would have been “a joke”, said Söder, “because the vacation is over even in the countries with late vacation”.
The deputy spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer did not give a date in Berlin on Wednesday and pointed out that internal coordination was still ongoing. Regulations for return travelers are also on the list of topics for the corona deliberations between Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the prime ministers of the federal states on August 10. What can be clarified beforehand will of course be clarified. The rule is: “The faster, the better.” As recently as Tuesday, the Federal Government said that Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) was reluctant to stricter rules for reasons of proportionality.
The countries had put pressure on because they needed a reliable basis for entry, said Söder on Tuesday evening. In the afternoon he was informed that a legal basis would be created so that implementation would work on August 1st. “The rule is relatively simple, everyone needs a test that arrives again, so to speak, whether he comes by car, train or plane.” Currently, the test only applies to people who travel to Germany by plane.
SPD leader Saskia Esken supports the introduction of mandatory testing at short notice: “I am absolutely in favor of us taking a closer look at travelers,” she said on RTL / ntv. “It can be seen very clearly that traveling abroad involves risks.” Returnees might bring the Delta or other variants with them. SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil said on ZDF that his party wanted travel to be safer. “That means expanding the obligation to test.” But that must be legally clean and proportionate. “We are definitely ready to take this step.”
Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) had the picture-The newspaper said that people who have been proven vaccinated or recovered do not have to prove a negative test result. Seehofer and Söder said that the controls in individual traffic should be carried out on a point-by-point basis. No one wants and does not do stationary border controls, said Söder.
The AfD considers a test obligation for travelers returning to be a “disproportionate burden on travelers, the border authorities and the tourism industry”, as top candidate Alice Weidel said. She spoke of a feeling of uncertainty among vacationers, which must finally stop. The chairman of the AfD parliamentary group also criticized the fact that those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered after a stay in a risk area do not currently have the same quarantine rules that apply to all other immigrants: “The quarantine exemption of those who have been vaccinated and recovered puts healthy people at a disadvantage and thus exposes them to further vaccination pressure . ” (07/28/2021)
Half of the people in Germany are fully vaccinated against Corona
A good seven months after the start of the corona vaccinations, half of the population in Germany is fully vaccinated against the virus. How out current data from the Federal Ministry of Health shows, after the vaccinations from the previous day, 41,790,697 people have complete vaccination protection, for which two doses several weeks apart are required for most vaccines. According to the ministry, this corresponds to 50.2 percent of the total population. (07/28/2021)