Highest railway for the traffic light that is not yet in power!
The fourth corona wave is rolling through Germany, and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reports dramatic figures almost every day. On Monday, the RKI announced the highest seven-day incidence ever recorded for Germany: 201.1. In addition, 15,513 new infections within one day – a value that is actually higher because fewer infections are reported to the RKI on weekends.
Intensive care physicians and nurses are sounding the alarm and calling for political action to be taken quickly. The traffic light coalition is required before a government is even formed. The course for this should be set today. Because on November 25th the “epidemic situation of national scope” expires – possible measures to fight the pandemic have to be decided again.
The most important points in the draft law on the corona situation, which is to be presented in the Bundestag on Monday:
▶ ︎ Corona tests should be free again for everyone.
▶ ︎ There should be compulsory daily testing in care facilities – also for those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered.
▶ ︎ More sick days for parents if their children have to stay at home due to infection, quarantine or possible daycare closings.
In addition, even more pressure is to be put on the topic of booster vaccinations: Doctors should be obliged to actively ask older patients to re-vaccinate.
The battle plan of the potential traffic light partners: The new measures are to be discussed in the Bundestag on Thursday. They should then be decided in the coming weeks.
The new plans are necessary because the decisions on the “epidemic situation” are running out and should not be extended due to a lack of legal certainty. SPD parliamentary deputy Dirk Wiese and Green parliamentary leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt announced that they would present the details in parliament today.
From the Green parliamentary groups it was said at the weekend that the three possible coalition partners wanted, among other things, to lay down new regulations for the test offer.
The traffic light parties want to dispense with a nationwide 2G rule. The SPD, Greens and FDP are considering, among other things, a daily test obligation for employees and visitors in nursing homes – regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or recovered (BamS reported).
For the board of the German Foundation for Patient Protection, Eugen Brysch, this is not going fast enough. He scolded BILD: “Why are you waiting until November 25th? That’s three wasted weeks! ”The traffic light must implement the NOW. “We do not need any declarations of intent to be non-binding.”
SPD parliamentary group vice Wiese replied that mandatory testing was already feasible. “We are making it legally clear what is already being practiced in some countries.”
The vice-parliamentary group leader of the SPD, Dirk Wiese (r.), The Green parliamentary group leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt (center) and Marco Buschmann (first parliamentary manager of the FDP parliamentary group)Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
Göring-Eckardt did not want to comment on details of the new regulation. On the question of whether there should be a nationwide 2G rule, i.e. access only for vaccinated and convalescent people, she said that, in her view, it could not be made legally certain nationwide.
Representatives of the Greens and FDP also called for corona citizen tests to be offered free of charge again in the winter half-year. “The abolition of the free citizen tests was a mistake,” said FDP parliamentary group manager Marco Buschmann the editorial network Germany (RND). The reintroduction would help to break chains of infection more quickly, he said.
Janosch Dahmen, health policy spokesman for the Greens, also spoke out in the “Welt” in favor of returning to free tests, but warned for improvements: “When returning to free citizen tests, test results must be bindingly readable via QR code and, for example, by organizers or restaurateurs as in our neighboring countries are controlled exclusively digitally. “
The situation in the intensive care units is coming to a head
Meanwhile, the situation in the intensive care units is coming to a head. Christian Karagiannidis, scientific director of the intensive care register of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (Divi), told the “Augsburger Allgemeine” that in the coming weeks the number of corona patients in intensive care units is expected to almost double if the new infections continue increase as before. “With an incidence of 300, we expect around 4500 Covid patients nationwide with large regional differences,” warned Karagiannidis.
The German Teachers Association is meanwhile concerned about the situation in schools. “There are terrifying incidences in the group of children and adolescents,” said association president Hans-Peter Meidinger of the editorial network Germany.
He said: “The danger is immense that we will lose control of the pandemic in schools.” He also campaigned for a mask requirement in schools and criticized the different country regulations. Meidinger also advocated that unvaccinated teachers should be tested daily if the number of infections is very high.
But the fact is: the high incidences in children also have something to do with testing. Nowhere is there as much testing as in schools, where children have to undergo a corona test several times a week. At the same time, the Robert Koch Institute made it clear a long time ago: Children are not pandemic drivers. And most importantly: Children themselves rarely get seriously ill with Corona.
Because of the rapidly increasing number of infections in Saxony – similar to Austria – from this Monday on, only those who have been vaccinated or recovered will have access to many areas of public life. The 2G rule applies to indoor catering, cultural and leisure facilities or football stadiums, for example. Saxony and Thuringia currently have the highest incidence values in Germany, followed by Bavaria.
Stricter corona rules have been in effect in Bavaria since Sunday. Only vaccinated, convalescent and people with a negative PCR test have access to inns and events in closed rooms.
In Berlin, the Senate is planning to apply the 2G rule to other locations and events. “2G is being prepared,” said Health Senator Dilek Kalayci (SPD) on Sunday the “Tagesspiegel”. At the moment, operators of restaurants or event organizers in Berlin can decide on 2G or 3G themselves. For Brandenburg, the local SPD parliamentary group leader Daniel Keller spoke out in the “Märkische Allgemeine” in favor of adopting the 2G rules from Saxony.