Holetschek: Nobody questions compulsory vaccination – dispute in the state parliament
Friday, February 11, 10:28 am: The controversial statements by Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) on compulsory vaccination for health care and nursing led to a heated exchange of blows in the state parliament on Thursday. In a lively debate, the SPD, Greens and FDP accused Söder and the state government of outright breach of the law and fantasies of omnipotence. Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) sharply rejected this – and now wants to comment on the subject in a press conference on Friday.
“Neither the Prime Minister, nor the state government, nor anyone else questions this vaccination requirement,” he said in the state parliament on Thursday, adding: “We are talking about implementation times in prison.”
Söder had said on Monday that “the most generous transitional regulations” were needed for compulsory vaccination for health care and nursing, which “de facto initially resulted in a suspension of enforcement”. This triggered a storm of criticism.
SPD country chief Florian von Brunn accused Söder of a “political and constitutional affront”. “It endangers human life.” Söder endangers the health of Bavarian citizens. Jürgen Mistol (Greens) called it an incredible process that Söder did not want to enforce federal law. “This is blatant breach of the law.” And Alexander Muthmann (FDP) said about Söder: “His fantasies of omnipotence don’t even stop at the rule of law.” The AfD used the debate to attack vaccination as a whole.
Holetschek countered that at the federal level a decision for general vaccination was a long time coming. You wouldn’t have the current debate, “if you had made general vaccination compulsory in Berlin”https://www.sueddeutsche.de/bayern/.”You can’t get it right, you messed it up, and now you’re trying to turn the spit to turn around,” said Holetschek.
Incidence in Bavaria at 1811.4
Friday, February 11, 6:57 a.m.: The incidence in Bavaria has fallen minimally. On Friday it was 1811.4, on Thursday it was 1817.5. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), five of the 96 districts and independent cities are below the 1000 mark, 26 are above 2000. The health authorities in Bavaria reported 45,868 new cases to the RKI in the past 24 hours. 37 people died from or with the corona virus in the same period.
The district of Eichstätt leads both the Bavarian and the nationwide incidence list with 3896.6 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days. This is followed by the districts of Neuburg-Schobenhausen (2494.6) and Regen (2465.3). The district of Neustadt an der Aisch-Bad Windsheim has the lowest value with 720.8.
Aiwanger would like folk festivals with as few conditions as possible
Thursday, February 10, 5:27 p.m.: On February 24th, the state government wants to consult with the showman associations about the possibilities for folk festivals this year. “Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) would like folk festivals to take place again this year with as few restrictions as is infectiousally justifiable,” said a spokesman for his house on Thursday to the radio station Antenne Bayern.
The decision on the restrictions is up to the Ministry of Health. Therefore, Aiwanger and Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) would hold a round table with the showman associations on February 24 to discuss the requirements for folk festivals this season.
Holetschek backtracks on compulsory vaccination: delay of only a “few weeks”
Thursday, February 10, 10:17 a.m.: The Bavarian state government now wants to introduce compulsory vaccination for healthcare workers a little faster than Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) initially promised. Bavaria still thinks the introduction of facility-related compulsory vaccinations is a good idea, emphasized Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) on Thursday on Bayerischer Rundfunk. However, their introduction will be postponed by a “few weeks” because many questions are still open.
Söder, on the other hand, spoke of “the most generous transitional regulations” on Monday, which “de facto initially amount to a suspension of enforcement”. “For how many months, we will see.” The state government had thus received sharp criticism.
In all likelihood, however, a punctual start of the facility-related compulsory vaccination on March 15th is still not to be expected in Bavaria. Holetschek said on Bayerischer Rundfunk that the implementation had simply not yet been clarified. “Of course the law makes sense. But it has to be feasible to implement it.” For his part, Holetschek accused the Federal Government and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) of not making any progress in introducing a general obligation to vaccinate.
Incidence in Bavaria is falling
Thursday, February 10, 7:03 a.m.: The incidence in Bavaria has fallen slightly for the first time in weeks. On Thursday it was 1817.5, on Wednesday it was still 1840.4. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), four of the 96 districts and independent cities are still below the 1000 mark, 24 are above 2000. The health authorities in Bavaria reported 44,758 new cases to the RKI in the past 24 hours. 41 people died from or with the corona virus in the same period.
The Eichstätt district leads both the Bavarian and the nationwide incidence list with 3888.3 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days. This is followed by the city of Rosenheim (2505.1) and the district of Neuburg-Schobenhausen (2504.9). The district of Neustadt an der Aisch-Bad Windsheim has the lowest value with 738.6.
Munich’s Mayor Reiter tested positive for Corona
Wednesday, February 9, 3:28 p.m.: Munich’s Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) has been infected with the corona virus. This was announced by his spokeswoman on Wednesday afternoon. First of all, a quick test in the morning showed a positive result. In the subsequent PCR test, the infection was confirmed. The mayor has so far shown “no significant symptoms”, according to a message from the town hall.
As provided for by the infection protection rules, Reiter immediately went into quarantine. From there he will continue to work as normal. There was no information on Wednesday on which occasion the mayor contracted the corona virus. It shouldn’t be lonely for the mayor in quarantine anyway. His wife Petra also tested positive and is now also in isolation.