Team caution, team sense of proportion, team freedom – there were already many names for the Corona policy of the Bavarian state government during the pandemic, Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) was happy to be creative. Now that almost all measures are also being phased out in the Free State under federal law, Minister of Health Klaus Holetschek has invented a new term. On Tuesday after a cabinet meeting, the CSU politician said: “Team eyes and through”.
That should be meant as a criticism of the traffic light government in Berlin and there, above all, of the FDP, at whose insistence the federal government leaves practically no room for maneuver in the case of Corona. But it is also automatically the right description for the new course in Bavaria: Despite the very high number of infections nationwide, most of the corona restrictions will expire this weekend. Bavaria will also not apply the hotspot rule in federal law, at least not in the foreseeable future, it said. And also not to declare itself as a virus crisis area as a whole country. The so-called basic protection remains for a few weeks – and there is still great displeasure in Munich about the procedure in Berlin. So Bavaria calls out “Freedom Day” – without wanting to.
According to the Federal Infection Protection Act and the expiry of a transitional period of two weeks, the rules end after Saturday. Holetschek had campaigned until the end for another transitional period into April, without success. Head of the State Chancellery Florian Herrmann (CSU) said on Tuesday that minimum distances and masks are “a simple means” given the current infection situation. You can only now “no longer order it to be binding”.
Testing remains mandatory in nursing homes
After April 2nd, the FFP2 mask requirement in local and long-distance transport, as well as in nursing homes, clinics, medical practices and other health areas, as well as in shelters for the homeless and refugees, still applies in concrete terms. In nursing homes, tests are still mandatory, as well as in schools (initially until the end of the Easter holidays). All 2G and 3G access rules, for example in restaurants or in the gym, as well as the obligation to wear a mask in retail, leisure facilities and other indoor areas are no longer applicable. Proof of the test must still be provided during visits to clinics and homes. The new Corona regulation of the Free State will be significantly shorter than previous versions.
Minister of Education Michael Piazolo (FW) wants to “recommend” that schools continue to wear masks at collection points such as the auditorium or during breaks. It is still unclear exactly how the implementation will take place. The new Bavarian regulation also recommends a general distance and mask indoors. This is aimed at the citizens and “everyone who still wants to act sensibly,” said Holetschek when asked. And not to operators of facilities, taverns or shops who could theoretically prescribe masks through their domiciliary rights. The Bavarian Hotel and Restaurant Association Dehoga does not recommend its members, only expects individual cases. In retail, asking customers to wear a mask voluntarily could be read more often on signs in the next few weeks – if many people don’t do it themselves anyway.
Lauterbach “failed”
Bavaria does not make use of the option of hotspots in regions or even for the entire state. Because that is not possible under the specifications, as it was said. The federal bill is one that “just pretends to be a regulation,” said Herrmann, head of the chancellery. Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) “failed”, his role was “devastating”, added Holetschek. Determining the hotspot would have been the only way to stick to the mask requirement indoors. For this to happen, a new, more dangerous virus variant would have to appear or the clinics would have to be overwhelmed; this is not the case in Bavaria, despite the continued high incidence. On Tuesday, 412 intensive care beds in Bavaria were occupied by corona patients, the situation was stable – in the Bavarian warning traffic light decided last summer, the red, critical value is only reached at 600 beds.
The day before, Söder had already cleared the hotspot issue when tapping the asparagus at Munich’s Viktualienmarkt: “We will not apply such a sloppy law in Bavaria.” Holetschek, in turn, took part in the conference of the health ministers of the federal states and reported that he had received six yes votes and four abstentions for his application for a longer period. The federal government ignores this professional advice, which is “cannot be surpassed in terms of absurdity”.