Pandemic: At the Corona tipping point – who drops the mask?

pandemic
At the Corona tipping point – who drops the mask?

After more than two years in permanent crisis mode, it will be a special corona test for millions of people across the country: How does it feel to be able to go shopping, to the pub or to do sports without a mask and proof of vaccination?

Amidst the still high number of infections, most everyday requirements will no longer apply almost nationwide from this Sunday. Protection is becoming more of a private matter. And as united as politicians and experts went into the containment of the pandemic, the great opening enforced by the federal government is now controversial. Germany is at a corona tipping point – is that okay?

“Freedom day” – or not?

The traffic light coalition partners have their own accents on what the caesura should mean. There is the FDP, which insists on the greatest possible relaxation. “Two years after the start of the first lockdown, we are now returning to normal,” announced parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr. And then there is Health Minister Karl Lauterbach and the Greens, who make no secret of the fact that they would actually prefer a tighter safety net. “There can be no talk of a “Freedom Day” – quite the opposite,” warns the SPD Minister undeterred. And at the same time defended the compromise regulations.

The loosening

According to the new nationwide framework, only a few general protection requirements will be possible in the future: for masks in clinics, nursing homes, buses, trains and for tests in schools, for example. In the federal states, all that is needed is a regulation. Masks remain mandatory everywhere in ICE, Intercity and when flying. And what about all the mask requirements and access rules like 2G and 3G that have been in place for a long time in many places? It only allows the traffic light law in regional hotspots with a critical situation and after a resolution in the state parliament. For the time being, only Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Hamburg are making use of it. The other countries declared the requirements in the law as not legally secure enough.

end of unity

There was always a crunch between the federal and state governments – for example when agreements fell apart and responsibility was pushed back and forth. However, the federal government put the new protective framework in front of the states without participation. And most countries are protesting that unpopular decisions are now assigned directly to them. Lauterbach nevertheless promotes the hotspot rule, which was “legally cleaned” in the compromise with Justice Minister Marco Buschmann – and can therefore be implemented. The FDP man emphasized the “deliberately high hurdles” for this. Bavaria’s Minister of Health, Klaus Holetschek, stated that Buschmann and the FDP must now also take responsibility for future developments.

The fragile situation

Ironically, with the admonisher and doctor Lauterbach as minister, large parts of Germany are now without proven protective requirements – in the middle of a wave with more than 200,000 reported new infections and often more than 200 deaths a day. Lauterbach also declared that this was not acceptable. However, a nationwide mask requirement is not legally possible, since there is now no risk of the health system being overloaded nationwide. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke of a “new phase” in which, as in neighboring countries, most protective measures were dispensed with. But the pandemic is not over either. Everyone is well advised to continue to adhere to the usual precautions such as distance or voluntary wearing of a mask.

Protection even without a state?

Shops, theaters and restaurants can now decide for themselves whether, for example, mask requirements continue to apply according to house rules. Many retail chains are doing without it for the time being, but appealed to customers to come with masks as usual. The social association VdK warned that many people with chronic illnesses and the elderly were now afraid of getting infected because of the persistently high number of infections. Lauterbach warned that there are also acute dangers for those who have not been vaccinated: “Anyone who says to himself that I have been through the pandemic for two years and have never been infected – must consider that the risk is now higher than it has ever been for was him.”

The outlook

The Greens health expert Janosch Dahmen emphasized: “Self-protection and protection of others should also be important to us in spring.” Conversely, more freedom should not mean less caution. He expects that the omicron wave will only be contained after Easter. The virologist Christian Drosten said in the last regular NDR Corona podcast for the time being, immunocompromised and all risk patients should “absolutely continue to wear a mask for themselves if not everyone else is doing it”. For the summer, with probably low incidences, he advised “Asian courtesy” – i.e. wearing a mask as part of good manners when meeting people. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the current wave of infections may have peaked.

Vaccination – problem and solution?

The big question is: what happens in autumn? Above all, the large vaccination gap compared to other countries is considered critical. The vaccination campaign is currently almost at a standstill. In the risk group of 24 million people over the age of 60, around eleven percent have no basic protection with two vaccinations. The decision on general vaccination, for which Lauterbach and Scholz are promoting, is eagerly awaited. Before the vote without parliamentary group guidelines in the Bundestag next Thursday, there were negotiations between advocates of a requirement from the age of 18 on the one hand and supporters of stage models up to a requirement from the age of 50 on the other – the outcome is open. By autumn at the latest, there could be another argument about Corona requirements. Because the amended Infection Protection Act is limited to September 23rd.

dpa