In the dispute over possible discrimination against children and young people as a result of the planned new Infection Protection Act, the federal and state governments have agreed on a compromise. The Union-led countries also want to approve the draft by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) on Friday in the Bundesrat.
In return, the federal government committed itself in a protocol declaration to relax the law in an important area within three weeks in favor of schoolchildren. A corresponding formulation aid should be available to the Federal Council for final consultation by October 7th, six days after the law comes into force.
The protocol statement that the Süddeutsche Zeitung is available, provides that Covid-19 will be deleted from paragraph 34 of the Infection Protection Act. There you will find a list of contagious infectious diseases from which schools, day care centers and other educational institutions should be protected. Children and teachers who are infected with one of these diseases or who are suspected of being infected are not allowed to enter the facilities until they can prove that the risk of infection has ended.
The draft of the new Infection Protection Act, which the Bundestag passed last week and which is now before the Bundesrat, provides for the inclusion of Covid-19 in this list. Other diseases that can be found there are, for example, cholera, whooping cough or the plague.
A “disaster for students”
This regulation was met with open opposition from the ministries of education and also from some heads of government of the federal states. The reason: It obliges students and teachers to submit a negative test both after a corona infection and in the event of a suspected corona infection in order to be able to participate in class again. In the event of suspicion, according to the Ministry of Health, a self-test is sufficient, in the event of an infection, a “confirmed negative test” is required, which can be carried out at a test center or “under supervision” at school.
In addition to the question of when exactly there is a suspected case, the criticism was primarily sparked by the fact that the law puts children and young people at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the population. Adults do not have to take a free test when they return to work after a corona infection.
Karin Prien, Minister of Education of Schleswig-Holstein and President of the Conference of Ministers of Education, had spoken of a “disaster for schoolchildren” and lamented a “relapse into the early days of the pandemic”. Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) had announced that he would not agree to the Infection Protection Act in this form. Similar considerations had also been made in other countries.
“I am relieved and grateful that it was possible to stop this wrong path with a joint, massive intervention by the Ministers of Education and many Prime Ministers,” said Karin Prien on Friday of the SZ. “Introducing a legal ban on entry and a free test obligation only for daycare centers and schools even in suspected cases in the final phase of the pandemic is devoid of any logic and proportionality.”
The other regulations of the new Infection Protection Act for schools remain unaffected by the change. Depending on the infection situation, the countries there can again impose a test requirement and introduce a mask requirement, but only from the 5th grade and up. The federal government is ruling out new school closures.