Corona pandemic: Baerbock on Corona: “We gave ourselves ten days”

Corona pandemic
Baerbock on Corona: “We gave ourselves ten days”

According to the Greens, the traffic light parties want to advise on stricter corona measures in Germany at the beginning of December.

“We gave ourselves ten days to see if we are with the booster vaccinations, have we come far enough with the protective measures,” said Greens boss Annalena Baerbock in the ARD. The new federal-state crisis team should take a close look at the situation on a daily basis. After these ten days, they will jointly analyze whether further measures are necessary.

Union puts pressure

In the fight against the fourth corona wave, the amended Infection Protection Act initiated by the traffic light parties has come into force. The federal states still have the option of ordering or maintaining measures such as mask requirements, contact restrictions or bans on events. Nationwide exit restrictions and school closings are no longer permitted tools. According to the previous plans, the law is to be reviewed on December 9th in a federal-state round and, if necessary, sharpened.

Leading Union politicians are pushing for a faster pace. The measures initiated would probably not be enough, said Union faction leader Ralph Brinkhaus (CDU) on Wednesday evening on ARD. “We have to act intensively now.” The planned evaluation on December 9th was “much too late”. Previously, the Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU) had called for a quick meeting of the state heads of government, preferably this week.

According to information from the German Press Agency, the Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) had offered the leaders of the traffic light parties in the Chancellery on Tuesday evening to significantly tighten the measures in view of the threatened overload of the health system. A legal emergency brake or clear lockdown agreements with the countries would be the obvious options, it said. The “Bild” reported that Merkel had already called for a lockdown from Thursday, the SPD, FDP and the Greens had rejected the proposal.

Stricter rules

At the presentation of the coalition agreement between the SPD, Greens and SPD, the likely future Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) announced the establishment of a permanent federal-state crisis team in the Chancellery on Wednesday. According to him, the body should start work before the traffic light government is in office. Scholz said in the evening on ARD: “It’s about organizing constant, professional support for this situation.” It is important to have all the data available on a daily and weekly basis and to draw the necessary conclusions from it immediately.

The corona situation in Germany is becoming more dramatic every day. The numbers are increasing, the intensive care units are at their limit. In order to avert bottlenecks, several dozen intensive care patients from hot spots in the south and east are to be relocated to other federal states by the weekend. The federal and state governments want to discuss how to proceed this Thursday. For this purpose, a special video conference of the health ministers is scheduled.

After several other federal states, Hesse and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are also tightening their corona rules today. In Hesse, a new Corona regulation comes into force, which provides for a significant expansion of the mask requirement, comprehensive tests and in many areas of public life only access for vaccinated and recovered people. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, vaccinated and convalescent people now also need a negative corona test in many leisure areas.

Compulsory vaccination and school closings

Baerbock did not want to rule out a general compulsory vaccination. In addition to a compulsory vaccination for certain areas and professions, “it will also be checked what it takes for a general vaccination,” she said in the ARD. The FDP chairman Christian Lindner spoke out on ZDF in favor of waiting to see what constitutional experts think about it. “That is highly controversial.” Only when they come to the opinion that a vaccination is possible, “a political decision must then be made whether you want it”.

The designated Federal Minister of Education Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) wants to avoid school closings despite the high corona numbers. “We are in favor of not closing schools,” she said in the evening on “Bild Live”. Her party is convinced that the pupils “should not suffer educational deficits again”.

The European Medicines Agency EMA wants to decide today on the approval of the corona vaccine from Biontech for children from the age of five. If the experts give the green light, the EU Commission still has to give its official approval – but this is a matter of form. In Germany, according to the outgoing Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU), 2.4 million doses of the vaccine would be available for children from December 20.

dpa