Almost every second hotel and restaurant business apparently voluntarily adheres to the mask requirement for employees even after the end of the government requirement – on the other hand, only a minority of the businesses require customers to take appropriate corona protection measures. “According to our current Dehoga survey, 16.2 percent of the companies are sticking to the mask requirement for guests. The 3G regulation is still applied by 12.1 percent of the companies,” says the general manager of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga), Ingrid Hartges, dem Editorial network Germany according to a preliminary report.
The restaurateur decides whether wearing masks can be dispensed with according to his operational hygiene concept and the respective risk of infection of the employees. The managing director of the association welcomed the end of the restrictions. These are “measures that have not been in force in many other European countries for weeks,” said Hartges. “Many employees are also very happy that they no longer have to carry out checks.” (04/09/2022)
Lauterbach: We won’t be optimally prepared for the new wave a third time
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach sees the failure of compulsory vaccination as a setback to contain the corona pandemic. He explains this in a joint conference with RKI President Lothar Wieler. This is bad news, especially for vulnerable groups of people and for those who have been working for infected and sick people since the outbreak of the pandemic.
With the end of the precautionary corona vaccination obligation, Lauterbach sees the need for stronger protective measures for the fall. “It is possible, but not very likely, that another corona wave will not be heading our way in autumn,” explains the SPD politician. After the summer, however, you will probably not be optimally prepared for a third time going into a new wave. The Minister of Health assumes that the Infection Protection Act will then have to be amended again. In view of the vaccination gaps that still exist, one cannot go into the cold season without a mask requirement. However, the law must be addressed anyway, as it expires on September 23, Lauterbach continued.
Yesterday’s proceedings were “a clear and bitter defeat”, but it showed a result that society now has to live with. It’s not the time for finger pointing. With a “new and creative” vaccination campaign, Lauterbach would like to address unvaccinated people who do not fundamentally reject immunization – he does not give any specific details.
The Minister of Health sees no scope for further easing in the medium term. After all, there would still be high case numbers and deaths. This is one of the reasons why the decision was made to withdraw the recently announced isolation ordinance. This would have sent the wrong signal. Lauterbach also appeals to everyone to get tested before traveling over the Easter holidays. Holiday plans should not lead to an interruption of the currently favorable development in the number of cases. (08.04.2022)
Scholz refrains from a second attempt for compulsory vaccination
Chancellor Olaf Scholz does not want to vote again on compulsory vaccination. “I find the Bundestag’s decision very clear,” says the SPD politician. “There is no legislative majority in the Bundestag for mandatory vaccination. That is the reality that we must now take as a starting point for our actions.”
Like NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU), he regrets that Parliament has rejected compulsory vaccination. Wüst also sees no chance for a second attempt at a farewell. One must now find other ways to increase the number of vaccinated. As the only one of the three parties in the traffic light coalition, the FDP voted almost unanimously against a general obligation to vaccinate. According to the Bundestag voting record, the FDP parliamentary group received 79 no votes and five yes votes. The relationship was reversed for the coalition partners SPD and Greens.
The health ministers of Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Brandenburg and Hesse, the evangelical welfare association Diakonie – and the economy have criticized the failure of the vaccination requirement: “This is not a good day for fighting the pandemic,” explains the President of the Confederation of Employers, Rainer dulger “Vaccination remains a key component in the fight against the pandemic.” He adds: “Vaccinations help – also with a view to late autumn and winter – to avoid drastic restrictions on economic and social life.”(07.04.2022)
Incidence continues to fall, RKI sees the peak of the corona wave exceeded
The nationwide seven-day incidence has continued to fall. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) gave the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week on Friday morning as 1181.2. For comparison: the day before the value was 1251.3. A week ago, the nationwide incidence was 1586.4 (previous month: 1293.6). The health authorities in Germany reported 175,263 new corona infections to the RKI within one day. A week ago there were 252,530 infections. According to the new information, 334 deaths were recorded across Germany within 24 hours.
The RKI sees the peak of the current corona wave as overcome: “The peak of the current wave has now clearly been passed,” the institute previously announced in its weekly report. In the previous issue, the RKI described it as only likely that the summit had been reached or possibly already exceeded. The current assessment is based, among other things, on the fall in the nationwide seven-day incidence of 19 percent in a weekly comparison. According to the report, the numbers also fell in all age groups and in almost all federal states.
The number of infections currently has only limited significance. Experts assume a high number of cases that are not recorded in the RKI data. Test capacities and health authorities are at the limit in many places, contacts are only traced to a limited extent. That is why we use the SZ Corona Dashboard to show an average value from the reports of the past seven days, which is intended to compensate for fluctuations from day to day. You can find more information on this in the transparency blog, further data and graphics on the pandemic here. (08.04.2022)
WHO: Many more infections in Africa than reported
According to the latest WHO findings, the number of unreported cases in Africa, with its 1.3 billion people, is far higher than previously reported. “New WHO analysis shows that more than two-thirds of the population may already have acquired some level of immunity after exposure to the coronavirus,” said World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti. Referring to an as yet unpublished WHO study, she said the official figures only scratch the surface: the true number of infections could be 97 times higher than the number of registered cases.
Africa has officially registered a good 11.5 million infections so far, of which 250,000 were fatal. Many infections were probably not recorded simply because the population was very young on average: Young people in particular often have no or hardly any symptoms. In addition, there is often a lack of testing and recording options. (07.04.2022)
Hospitals: Check facility-related vaccination requirements
After the failure of a general vaccination requirement, the German Hospital Society (DKG) believes that the vaccination requirement for staff in healthcare and nursing facilities, which has been in force since mid-March, is no longer tenable. “I think it is inconceivable that the health authorities are now still banning work for unvaccinated people in the health care system,” says Gerald Gass, CEO of the DKG Rheinische Post. “For us, universal immunization has always been a subsequent necessity to maintain facility-based immunization.” He regretted the failure of compulsory vaccination. The federal and state governments should now prepare for autumn. Then the number of infections can be expected to increase again. (07.04.2022)