Pandemic
Lauterbach: Some corona measures were “nonsense”
Karl Lauterbach (SPD), Federal Minister of Health, takes a critical look back at some of the corona measures. photo
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
With some distance, the Minister of Health also looks back critically at some of the prescribed corona measures – and finds clear words. But one country in particular has “massively overstated” the rules.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has again criticized errors in the fight against the corona pandemic. “What was nonsense, if I can speak so freely, these rules are out there,” said Lauterbach on the ZDF program “Markus Lanz” on Thursday evening.
He was referring, for example, to the temporary ban on going jogging without a mask. “Of course it’s clear, there were excesses,” said Lauterbach, who has been Minister of Health since December 2021. The states would have massively overstimulated, especially Bavaria. The long daycare and school closures were also a mistake.
Nevertheless, Lauterbach’s balance sheet was positive overall almost three years after the beginning of the pandemic. “We got through fine.” Thanks to the cautious approach, mortality in Germany was lower than in other countries, despite the old population. So far, around 180,000 people in Germany have died as a result of a corona infection. “That’s not a bad number, but we would have done even better if it hadn’t been for this constant politicization of the measures,” he said.