Debate about compulsory testing: Don’t hesitate too long again

With a view to the holiday season and the end of the holiday, there is growing concern about more corona infections. That is why you have to react in good time, says Bjorn Dake. Compulsory testing for travelers is the right approach.

Markus Söder is right. In the first federal states, the school holidays will soon end and there is no trace of a current corona strategy for those returning to travel.

It’s good that more than half of the people in Germany now have full vaccination protection. But half is not enough to overcome the pandemic. And the delta variant drives the infections upwards. Doing nothing to avoid spoiling people’s vacation two months before the election may not be an option.

Legitimate questions and demands

Söder likes the role of the driver. As Prime Minister he is the most ardent Corona manager, as CSU boss he wants to make Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet legs in the election campaign. Sure, Söder uses that for his personal profiling. But his questions and demands are justified.

It has long been known that holidays end, travelers return and schools reopen. What consequences this can have on the infection process. After all, it is already the second summer of the pandemic. And it is incomprehensible that, after one and a half years of pandemic experience, the federal government still needs days to vote on a new entry regulation.

No answers without a common strategy

The result: people are insecure. Anyone who is currently on vacation or is about to leave, wonders what will apply next week – and does not get any satisfactory answers. Once again it seems as if the federal and state governments do not have a common strategy.

Communication also contributes to this. Chancellery chief Helge Braun is thinking out loud about how the vaccination pressure can be increased. Federal Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht disagreed a day later in an interview. The government’s opinion-forming seems to only take place via interviews.

A quick test obligation for all travelers returning who have not been vaccinated or recovered is correct. One more reason to get vaccinated now at the latest. And if you still don’t want that, you can still travel with a test.

Also a question of control

However, it would be just as important as compulsory testing to actually monitor it. It still seems to be left to chance who has to show his test or vaccination certificate on arrival at the airport or who receives a call from the health department days later. Who will actually do this in the future on the train or on the motorway?

The municipalities and states have a duty here. Then Söder can also show whether he is serious or whether he is only interested in the effect.