Patchwork quilt and lack of plan
That is why the federal states fear the end of the epidemic situation
Jens Spahn wants to let the epidemic emergency run out – but protective measures must continue.
© Michael Kappeler / DPA
In the spring, each federal state had its own corona course. Now the end of the epidemic is causing stress reactions – and suddenly the countries are insisting on a uniform line.
From the ranks of the Prime Ministers, there are again demands for nationwide guidelines for further combating the corona pandemic. “We still need a resilient and Germany-wide regulatory framework that ensures that 2G, 3G, distance and mask requirements can be enforced,” said the Rhineland-Palatinate head of government Malu Dreyer (SPD) on Tuesday the portal “t-online.de” .
Health Minister Clemens Hoch warned in an interview with the editorial network Germany (RND) of a “patchwork quilt in dealing with the pandemic”. He would like the federal government to have an “orderly, uniform transitional arrangement”. However, it is unrealistic to lift all measures at the end of November. Bavaria is also skeptical of Spahn’s proposal. One continues to pursue a “course of caution and circumspection,” said State Chancellor Florian Herrmann (CSU) on Tuesday after a cabinet meeting in Munich. Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania consider an end to the epidemic situation to be premature. Corona is not over yet.
“We still have difficult months ahead of us”
Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) also warned against a hasty end of all corona measures. “What must not happen with a view to autumn and winter is a replacement without replacement of the protective rules,” said the SPD politician of the German press agency. “We still have difficult months ahead of us.” Weil emphasized that before autumn and winter, when the risk of infection increases again indoors, it is important to remain cautious.
“We see that in the group of the unvaccinated, the incidences are much higher,” he said. One will therefore “have to look very closely at how the federal government is positioning itself on this issue”. Lower Saxony’s health minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) considers the end of the protective measures to be unwise. With a view to hospitals, care facilities, day-care centers and schools, the emergency would have to be extended, she said at NDR-Info.
Hamburg’s First Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD), in an interview with the RND, called for the epidemic situation to be prolonged on a national level until the end of the year. Alternatively, there would otherwise have to be “interim solutions” that would allow the federal states to enable measures such as 2G, 3G, mask requirements or distance rules to be “legally valid”.
Two countries welcome the end of the epidemic emergency
The planned end to the epidemic situation was welcomed in Schleswig-Holstein and Bremen. The Holstein Minister of Health Heiner Garg (FDP) considers Jens Spahn’s approach to be appropriate and correct. In an interview with Radio Bremen, Bremen’s Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD) said that the discussion about the end of the emergency was appropriate – but premature. In his opinion, the end of the corona emergency should only be discussed when the emergency expires. However, both emphasized that the pandemic would not end at the end of November.
In Germany, the number of corona infections has recently increased significantly again. At the same time it is discussed whether the so-called epidemic situation of national scope should be extended again. It is the basis for the regulations and central corona measures introduced by the government. Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) had recently pleaded for the epidemic situation to expire at the end of November. If it is not extended, the nationwide corona emergency would expire on November 25.
Source: RND, “Ostsee Newspaper“, Butene and inland, daily News, with DPA