The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reports 180,397 new infections within 24 hours. That is 56,955 fewer cases than on Tuesday a week ago, when 237,352 positive tests were reported. Overall, the number of confirmed infections in Germany is more than 21.84 million. The nationwide seven-day incidence continues to fall to 1394.0 from 1424.6 the previous day. 316 other people died in connection with the virus. This increases the number of reported deaths to 130,368.
The numbers are of limited value. Experts assume a high number of cases that are not recorded in the RKI data. Test capacities and health authorities are at the limit in many places, contacts are only traced to a limited extent. That is why we use the SZ Corona Dashboard to show an average value from the reports of the past seven days, which is intended to compensate for fluctuations from day to day. You can find more information on this in the transparency blog, further data and graphics on the pandemic here. (05.04.2022)
Isolation from May 1st only voluntary
For people in Germany with a corona infection, there should only be an “urgent recommendation” for five days of isolation from May 1st. The health ministers of the federal and state governments agreed on new rules, as Federal Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) announced. Contacts should be avoided, an order from the health department should no longer be provided. For infected employees in health or care facilities, however, the isolation should continue to be ordered by the office and only end after five days after a negative quick or PCR test, according to the conference of health ministers.
Contact persons of infected people are therefore also “strongly recommended” to go into quarantine for five days. Infected and contact persons should test themselves regularly.
With the easing of the quarantine rules, mass staff shortages should also be avoided when the number of infections is high. They are based on a suggestion by the Federal Ministry of Health and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). So far, the secretions usually last ten days and can be ended with a negative test after seven days. A formal order from the health department is often no longer issued. (04/04/2022)
The compromise on compulsory vaccination does not find a majority either
A corona vaccination requirement for all adults over the age of 18 is initially off the table and a majority for a higher age limit is still open. On Monday, the group of members of the Bundestag, who had previously advocated an obligation for all adults, submitted a compromise proposal. She now wants compulsory vaccination from the age of 50, compulsory advice for younger adults and only in the second step – if necessary – compulsory vaccination for them as well. She hopes to get a majority for compulsory vaccination. But it didn’t look like it on Monday.
With the postponement of the age limit for vaccination to 50 years, the group around Heike Baehrens (SPD), Janosch Dahmen (Greens) and Katrin Helling-Plahr (FDP) is approaching the group around the FDP MP Andrew Ullmann, who also promotes an obligation to provide vaccination advice. However, according to her proposal, the obligation to vaccinate from the age of 50 would apply in any case from October. At Ullmann, she would only come if the advice did not lead to a sufficient increase in the vaccination rate.
Representatives of the group around Ullmann therefore insisted on their proposal on Monday: An immediate vaccination obligation “without considering the many unknown variables in autumn, from then conceivable virus variants to the immunity rate in the population” cannot be sufficiently justified on the basis of the current data situation. They could “not agree to the compromise offer in its current form”.
The compromise proposal also received a basket from the Union. The group wanted to approach them by now agreeing to a vaccination register, which is at the core of the application by the CDU and CSU for a preventive vaccination law. The vaccination, convalescence or counseling evidence should be collected and stored by the health insurance companies. The health policy spokesman for the Union faction, Tino Sorge (CDU), is not convinced: the paper is not a compromise between the concepts, but an “unclean fusion” of compulsory vaccination from 18 and from 50, he said Rheinische Post. The deputy parliamentary group leader Sepp Müller (CDU) said mirrorhe will propose to the committees of his group “that we stick to our own proposal”.
The Green MP Till Steffen promoted the compromise proposal and said that an attempt had been made to bring together the essential components of the three drafts, which in principle advocate compulsory vaccination. In any case, the group wants to put this version and no longer the vaccination requirement from 18 on Thursday in the Bundestag for a vote, explained the SPD politician Dagmar Schmidt. Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) also campaigned for the compromise: Anyone who wants compulsory vaccination can find themselves there, he said. “But if you vote against it, you risk lockdowns and suffering again in the fall.” On Thursday, the Bundestag will vote on a possible general corona vaccination requirement. (04/04/2022)
First day of sale without a mask requirement in many shops
Anyone who goes shopping no longer has to wear a mask in large parts of Germany. The supermarkets, discounters and other shops will open their doors this Monday and, for the first time in about two years, will be allowed to let in customers who do not wear a mouth and nose cover. After the federal and state governments had relaxed their corona measures accordingly, the mask requirement had already fallen in Berlin on Friday, and then in most other federal states on Sunday – there it was already possible to shop in shops that were open on Sundays without a mask, for example at train stations. Now the mask requirement is falling on a grand scale.
Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are sticking to the obligation to wear them as part of a so-called hotspot regulation. Other federal states refrained from taking such a special path. Since the end of April 2020, wearing a mask in shops had been mandatory nationwide.
In retail, the end of duty is causing mixed feelings. The Verdi union reported concern among employees about the risk of infection. There are also many critical voices among employers.
In a survey of retailers by the Bavarian Retail Association, a narrow majority said they thought the end of the mask requirement was wrong. According to the survey, 11.7 percent of retailers in Bavaria want to stick to the mask requirement in their shops. However, the large retail chains are not among them – they are not obliged to wear them, for example at Rewe, Lidl, Aldi and Edeka in the food sector, at the furniture retailer Ikea, at the bookstore chain Thalia or the textile chains H&M and Primark. Sometimes, however, customers are advised to continue to wear a mask voluntarily. (04/04/2022)
The nationwide incidence value continues to fall
The nationwide seven-day incidence has continued to fall. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Monday morning as 1425. The day before, the value was 1458. The health authorities in Germany reported 41,129 new corona infections to the RKI within one day. According to the new information, 23 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours.
When looking at the values, it must be taken into account that individual states do not report data on every weekday; Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony and Brandenburg, for example, do not report at all or not completely at weekends. This in turn leads to late registrations on the following days. A comparison of daily values is therefore becoming increasingly difficult.
The numbers are of limited value. Experts assume a high number of cases that are not recorded in the RKI data. Test capacities and health authorities are at the limit in many places, contacts are only traced to a limited extent. That is why we use the SZ Corona Dashboard to show an average value from the reports of the past seven days, which is intended to compensate for fluctuations from day to day. You can find more information on this in the transparency blog, further data and graphics on the pandemic here. (04/04/2022)
Teachers’ associations fear mask conflicts
Teachers’ associations fear conflicts after masks are no longer compulsory in schools. “In fact, there is now a danger that, on the one hand, children who wear masks will be teased by classmates as wimps and overly anxious, or, conversely, that pressure will be exerted on non-mask wearers,” said Heinz-Peter Meidinger, President of the German Teachers’ Association, the German press agency. He advocated a commitment by teachers and students to continue wearing masks in class and on school grounds in every class up to and including the week after the Easter break.
“There is a risk that the topic ‘mask yes or no’ will be carried into every classroom and thus endanger school peace and the learning success of the students,” said Maike Finnern, chairwoman of the Education and Science Union (GEW). The GEW considers wearing masks to be sensible and correct “in the current, very tense infection situation”, at least until the holidays, she added, “although we fundamentally share the educational concerns about wearing masks”.
The chairman of the education union VBE, Udo Beckmann, also sees the “danger of a new conflict” that could spill over into schools. “Following the disputes of the last two years, in which school management and teachers were sometimes even victims of physical and psychological violence when implementing the infection protection measures, it must be ensured that political decisions do not have to be mediated by the educational staff again.” Beckmann advocated that teachers and students should act “responsibly” and continue to wear masks if the infection rate in schools remains at a high level. (04/03/2022)