Anticipated for weeks, it is now taking shape: the “wall”. What is meant is the rapid increase in the number of corona cases that has already been observed in other countries due to the significantly more contagious Omicron variant. As expected, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is now reporting skyrocketing numbers for Germany as well. On Thursday, the RKI reported in its daily statistics of 64,340 new corona infections. That was 21 570 cases more than in the week before, in which 44.3 percent of the corona evidence examined for variants had gone back to Omikron. The nationwide seven-day incidence rose this Thursday to 285.9 from 258.6 the previous day.
“Due to its special properties, the Omikron variant can lead to a massive increase in the number of infections,” says the draft resolution for the federal-state consultations this Friday, the Süddeutsche Zeitung is present. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and the Prime Ministers and heads of government of the federal states agreed on this date before Christmas – on the assumption that new measures would be necessary in dealing with the “wall”.
In the draft, however, reference is first made to the well-known means, vaccination. “The central building block for Germany to get through this new phase of the pandemic well is to protect its citizens with booster vaccinations as well as first and second vaccinations,” it says.
That will not be enough, the new Corona Expert Council made it clear in its second statement on Thursday. “The strong infection dynamics and the associated high number of diseases occurring in parallel” threaten to “quantitatively outweigh” the advantage of the milder course of the disease compared to the delta variant.
“We will probably have to increase again,” said the Federal Minister of Health
As a consequence, what at first glance appears to be a contradicting mixture of loosening and tightening. The quarantine rules are to be relaxed in order to be able to maintain central areas of public life even with significantly more infected and isolated people. On the other hand, rules aimed at reducing contacts are to be tightened. “We will probably have to grow again,” said Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) on Wednesday evening on ZDF, but was not specific.
In the draft for advising the federal and state governments, too, the existing rules in particular are reaffirmed, for example on the wearing of masks – albeit with a significant tightening of the rules. The 2G-Plus rule is to be introduced “nationwide and independent of incidence” in the catering industry. Access to restaurants and cafés is then only possible for vaccinated and convalescent people with a daily test or with proof of a booster vaccination. This should apply from January 15th. But that wasn’t certain at first.
The federal and state governments are apparently still shying away from far-reaching further tightening – also because of the still unsatisfactory data situation. “I prefer we advise tomorrow and then decide a few days later, when the scientific basis is definitely better,” says Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) at Bild-TV.
There was widespread agreement that the quarantine rules must be adapted to the new situation in order to protect the “critical infrastructure”. “A high number of patients combined with an acute shortage of staff can endanger general medical care in Germany within a short period of time,” warned the Expert Council. What is required is a “balanced quarantine regulation” which at the same time meets the requirements of infection protection, especially for vulnerable groups.
The heads of government of the countries are concerned that the rules could become too confusing
According to the draft, the strict 14-day quarantine for contact persons of people who have been infected with the Omikron variant is to be softened. Anyone who can show complete vaccination protection through the booster vaccination should not have to be in quarantine in the future. For everyone else, the quarantine should “usually” end after ten days. After just seven days it should be possible to “test yourself free”. Employees of hospitals or nursing homes should be able to end the isolation after an infection after seven days with a mandatory PCR test if they were previously symptom-free for 48 hours. This is intended to adequately protect “vulnerable people”.
The heads of government of the federal states want to counter the concern that the rules could become too confusing – especially since there were also demands from the economy for special rules, for example to ensure the delivery of food, medicines or heating material. However, there should now be exceptions for schoolchildren. For them, the quarantine after contact with infected people should be able to be ended after five days with a PCR or antigen rapid test, since they are frequently tested anyway.