Status: 11/16/2021 9:21 p.m.
3G at work and in public transport, home office compulsory, daily tests in the health sector – the plans of the traffic light parties against Corona are becoming more concrete. The new Infection Protection Act should be in place by Thursday.
On Thursday, the new infection protection law of the traffic light parties is to be passed in the Bundestag. What exactly is regulated in it – further details will now be known. Apparently the SPD, Greens and FDP have agreed that employers should check the planned 3G rule at work on a daily basis. This emerges from a draft of the future Corona regulations available to the dpa news agency, which was discussed in the main committee of the Bundestag in the evening.
Employers have a duty
Employees should therefore no longer be allowed to enter workplaces where “physical contact” with others cannot be ruled out without proof of vaccination, recovery or daily test evidence (or a maximum of 48 hours old PCR test). The entry ban should not apply if employees take the test directly in the company. All employers are obliged to “monitor compliance on a daily basis by means of verification checks and to document it regularly,” says the draft.
The plans for the reintroduction of the home office obligation are also becoming more specific. They roughly correspond to the regulations that were in effect until June of this year: Employees with “office work or comparable activities” must be able to work from home, unless there are operational reasons against it, such as processing mail or issuing goods or materials. Employees must accept the home office offer, unless work is not possible at home, for example because it is too tight or too loud or because the necessary equipment is missing.
3G in public transport – EVG concerned
In the future, 3G will apply not only to work, but also to means of transport. According to the submission, the carriers should check this on a random basis. The traffic light parties want to oblige them to monitor appropriate evidence controls. The deputy EVG chairman Martin Burkert is following these plans with concern: He fears that there will be even more attacks on the railway staff. “Mobbing, insults and fights unfortunately happen every day,” he said tagesschau24. In principle, however, the federal police are responsible for the controls.
According to the plans, passengers would have to be able to show evidence of having been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, recovered or for a negative test that is no longer than 24 hours old. The 3G rule should apply in local public transport with buses and trains, in long-distance public transport with ICE and Intercity as well as for air traffic. Schoolchildren and transportation in taxis should be excluded. According to a report by the Funke media group, the SPD, Greens and FDP plan to introduce 3G on domestic flights as well.
Daily tests in clinics and care facilities
Part of the new Infection Protection Act is also to make tests mandatory in clinics and care facilities. Employees and visitors should only be allowed to enter these with a daily negative Corona test. In the case of employees who have been vaccinated or have recovered, testing should also be carried out by means of antigen tests for self-application without monitoring, i.e. by means of a self-test.
A decision on the introduction of a corona vaccination for certain areas will not be made this week, according to the SPD. The parliamentary manager of the SPD parliamentary group, Carsten Schneider, said the parliamentary manager of the SPD parliamentary group will be devoted to the question.
Harsher penalties for forging documents
In the future, forgers of corona tests, recovery or vaccination certificates are to face sensitive penalties. In the worst case, plans by the traffic light parties provide for up to five years in prison. According to this, the production and also the knowledgeable use of not only falsified vaccination certificates should be punishable in the future. The regulation clarifies criminal liability in the event that an “unauthorized person” issues a test, it is said.
Knowingly using false test evidence “with the purpose of deception” is also punishable. In particularly serious cases of “unauthorized issuing of health certificates”, if “the perpetrator acts on a commercial basis or as a member of a gang”, imprisonment from three months to five years should be possible.
The plans are to be decided in the Bundestag on Thursday. The next day the Federal Council wants to deal with it. In addition, the heads of government from the federal and state levels will meet for deliberations on Thursday.