Fight against corona: tests and voluntary vaccination should break the fourth wave

Fight against Corona
Tests and voluntary vaccination are set to break the fourth wave

Corona rapid tests for everyone should be free again – one of the measures with which the increase in new infections is to be slowed. Photo: Armin Weigel / dpa

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New records for the number of infections every day. The Ampel partners are betting on more mandatory tests and promoting voluntary vaccination. A majority in Germany would like something else.

With more corona tests and speed with the booster vaccinations, the SPD, Greens and FDP want to break the fourth corona wave, which is rolling through Germany more and more violently.

Nationwide uniform measures such as access to public events only for those who have been vaccinated and recovered or a compulsory vaccination for nurses should not exist, according to the Ampel coalition partners. There was another dispute on Tuesday over whether there should be a Prime Minister’s conference in view of the worsening situation. The Robert Koch Institute reported a record incidence for the second day in a row.

Situation with the infections and in the clinics:

The nationwide seven-day incidence is rising to heights previously unknown for the pandemic. 213.7 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants were recorded within one week. Saxony has the highest incidences with over 480, Thuringia with around 440 and Bavaria with almost 350. Some districts have values ​​of over 800. In the intensive care units, the number of Covid-19 patients now exceeds the mark of 2,600 cases – almost as many as at the height of the first wave in April 2020. The number of free beds fell by 359 to around 2530 within one day. According to model calculations, there should be 3500 Covid-19 intensive care patients in the coming weeks, even if the infection rate slows down quickly. In Bavaria, only nine percent of the intensive care beds are currently free. The Berlin Charité University Medicine canceled all planned interventions.

3G at work:

In order to counteract this, the SPD, Greens and FDP are planning 3G at work, among other things: employees in attendance who have neither a corona vaccination nor a convalescent status should in future have to be tested daily for corona. However, essential details are still open – for example, whether employees who refuse to submit proof of vaccination or test should be exempted. The employers’ association BDA demanded a right to information and assumes that people are often no longer employed if they do not comply with an obligation to provide evidence. The DGB refused to require employees to provide information about their own corona vaccination status.

Compulsory tests in retirement homes:

For employees in geriatric care and facilities for people with disabilities, the Ampel partners are considering an obligation to test twice a week – even if they are vaccinated. PCR pool tests, in which the swab samples are collected and jointly evaluated, could be considered for this. There should not be even a temporary compulsory vaccination for nurses, as demanded by the Diakonie, among other things. The FDP politician Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus said: “Personally, I do not consider a compulsory vaccination necessary.” The SPD politician Sabine Dittmar indicated possible differences in the ranks of the traffic lights and said that a parliamentary majority would be required for such a measure. Maria Klein-Schmeink from the Greens said vaccination should be part of “the ethical framework” when dealing with vulnerable groups.

More vaccinations desired – but voluntary:

The order of the day was “vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate,” said Aschenberg-Dugnus. A target group-specific approach is necessary. Especially with the booster vaccinations, more speed should be made. Klein-Schmeink also expects that 2G and 3G rules will encourage “one or the other”, including those who have not been vaccinated, to get vaccinated. Dittmer spoke out against the fact that doctors would invite their older patients to take part in a so-called booster vaccination. This is too bureaucratic, said Aschenberg-Dugnus. 67.2 percent of the total population are recorded as fully vaccinated, and 77.7 percent of adults. Saxony remains at the bottom with 57.2 percent of those fully vaccinated. Presumably not all vaccinations are recorded.

Majority for mandatory vaccination:

According to a Forsa survey on behalf of RTL / ntv, more than half of the people in Germany (53 percent) are in favor of a general compulsory corona vaccination. 46 percent of those surveyed are therefore against it. A compulsory vaccination for the health and care sector is in favor of 73 percent, only 24 percent are against.

Another timetable in the corona policy:

Again the SPD, Greens and FDP defended that they want to let the epidemic situation of national scope as the nationwide legal basis for corona measures expire on November 25th. In view of the vaccination quota in Germany, this is no longer legally secure. The traffic light alliance wants to further enable measures such as mask compulsory, distance rules or 2G / 3G. General closings of schools and other facilities should no longer be possible. To introduce a corresponding bill, SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz also wants to speak in the Bundestag on Thursday. He had been accused of dodging the coalition negotiations out of consideration. After a hearing and possible improvements, the parliamentary resolution is planned exactly one week later and the decision in the Federal Council one day later.

Dispute over federal-state meetings:

North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU), who chairs the Prime Minister’s Conference, said: “We have already lost a lot of time, the corona situation is worsening in parts of Germany every day.” A federal-state meeting should take place in the coming week at the latest. The Federal Ministry of Health also promoted a new Prime Minister’s Conference. Chancellor Angela Merkel had already agreed to do so. The traffic light groups rejected this, because the countries could act now. Aschenberg-Dugnus said: “In this respect, I now do not see the need to act uniformly because other measures are necessary in Bavaria than in Schleswig-Holstein.” The Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD) also said that such a meeting was not currently necessary.

dpa

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