corona pandemic
The calls for easing perspectives are getting louder
There is a sign in front of a shop in the Babelsberg district of Potsdam that reads “Only access with 2G rule, this also applies to the public order office”. Photo: Britta Pedersen/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The number of people infected with corona is still rising to new highs every day. Despite all the warnings from Health Minister Lauterbach, the debate on the prospects of easing is picking up speed.
The calls for easing perspectives in the corona pandemic are getting louder despite the further increase in the number of infections.
The leader of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Christian Dürr, told the “Bild” that as soon as there was no longer a risk of the health system being overloaded, restrictions would have to be withdrawn. “That’s why we are already talking about concrete opening prospects.” The next prime ministers’ conference should take the first decisions on this. The German Association of General Practitioners called on the federal government to draw up an opening plan for the exit from the corona measures.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach only warned on Tuesday against a quick lifting of measures and described the discussion about easing as inappropriate. “We don’t really have the situation under control yet,” said the SPD politician. A peak in the omicron wave is expected for the middle of this month.
On Wednesday morning, the Robert Koch Institute reported another high with a seven-day incidence of 1450.8 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants. Within one day, 234,250 additional infections were recorded – with a number of infections likely to remain undetected.
General practitioners call concept
The federal chairman of the German Association of General Practitioners, Ulrich Weigeldt, told the editorial network Germany (RND): “Politics must already develop a concept of how the opening steps should look like.” It is essential to avoid that hectically inconsistent and not well thought-out relaxation measures are decided.
The Green politician Dieter Janecek called for minors to be taken into account first when loosening. “Children and young people finally need complete normality again, they should be the first to benefit from openings,” he told the “Bild”. For youth sports and club life, “all restrictions should fall promptly”. FDP health expert Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus wants children to have “broad access to educational, sports and cultural facilities”. “This should be done regardless of the vaccination status and be implemented first when relaxation measures are taken.”
What is happening to the schools?
On the other hand, the education and science union warned against losing sight of the consequences for the schools in the event of possible easing. “Schools are not islands, infections are carried into the facilities and spread here too,” said the chairwoman of the Education and Science Union (GEW), Maike Finnern, the RND. “Relaxing protective measures in other areas of society therefore means accepting that the number of infections in schools will continue to rise – and that more and more facilities will have to close.”
Meanwhile, the German Hospital Society assumes that the clinics are coping well with the omicron wave. “I currently no longer expect the German healthcare system to be overburdened in the coming weeks,” said CEO Gerald Gass of “Bild”. The current corona measures should apply until the peak of the omicron wave, which the federal government expects in one to two weeks. After that, politicians could “without a doubt envisage gradual easing for the coming weeks”.
Lauterbach relies on reason at Söder
In the dispute over the implementation of the facility-related vaccination requirement, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) continues to assume that Bavaria will also implement the vaccination requirement for nursing and hospital staff. There is no “mechanism” to force Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) to do so. “I hope we can also work here with normal reason,” said Lauterbach on Tuesday evening in the ZDF “heute-journal”. Söder had announced a suspension of the implementation of partial vaccination.
Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans said on Tuesday evening in the ARD “Tagesthemen” that the implementation of the law should be suspended nationwide because “national applications” are needed. “Only then is this law a good law, currently it is a bad law.”
Left calls for government statement
The German Professional Association for Nursing Professions (DBfK) also called for a nationwide approach to implementation. In order to give the “facilities, the employees and above all the people with care needs security, we need nationwide, clear and well-founded regulations,” said DBfK President Christel Bienstein to the RND.
Due to open questions about how to deal with the corona pandemic, the left is demanding a government statement for the coming week. Not only Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Health Minister Lauterbach, but also Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) should answer questions in Parliament, Parliamentary Secretary Jan Korte demanded in a fire letter to the Chancellery.