The corona pandemic is not over yet, experts expect a more critical infection situation by autumn at the latest. This time the politicians want to be prepared. These are the planned measures.
The temperatures are rising, the corona numbers are falling. But how long? After consultations with the prime ministers on Thursday in Berlin, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that other conditions could possibly prevail again in autumn and winter. A thought that didn’t come out of thin air. In Portugal, the number of infections is currently increasing again. The omicron subvariant BA.5 is to blame. Experts expect that it will also continue to spread in this country. The federal and state governments want to prepare accordingly, taking early precautions for a possibly more critical corona situation in autumn.
After the amended Infection Protection Act, most state protection requirements in everyday life have been eliminated since the beginning of April. “We now have summer tires on it,” formulated the Chancellor. Now it’s about having “the right winter tires” ready when it matters – and maybe other measures. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the recent significant decline in new infections has stagnated in the current week. The institute gave the nationwide seven-day incidence on Friday morning as 261.3, a month ago the value was 632.2.
Scholz: “Have the right winter tires” ready
But which profile should the mentioned winter tires have? According to Scholz, there should no longer be any widespread closures of schools and daycare centers. However, before decisions are made on possible further protection requirements such as mask requirements, expert assessments that have yet to be announced should be awaited. The federal states also called for free corona citizen tests to be extended.
Is that enough? Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) at least has accused the federal government of lacking leadership in the anti-corona fight – and again demanded rapid preparations for the fall. “Even if it doesn’t correspond to the current zeitgeist: Corona isn’t over yet. We finally have to set the course for a safe autumn and winter,” said Holetschek of the German Press Agency in Munich. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is talking about putting on winter tires in good time to prepare for autumn. “To stay with the picture: So far I can’t even recognize a roadworthy car – and nobody in the federal government who steers it,” criticized Holetschek.
The many plans of Karl Lauterbach
In any case, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is already planning comprehensive precautions. Because, as he said in the Bundestag, “we must not go into the crisis unprepared like we did last fall.” In addition to changes in the Infection Protection Act, this included concepts for vaccinations and tests, more precise data on the burden on clinics, better protection for risk groups in nursing homes, for example. The vaccination concept provides that there is the right vaccine for all virus variants that could come. The state health ministers had unanimously put together a possible catalog with mask requirements indoors and access rules such as 2G and 3G (access only for vaccinated, recovered or tested people).
In the ZDF “heute journal” Lauterbach was also confident that he would be able to convince the coalition partner FDP to extend the Infection Protection Act and the mask requirement. With a view to the fall, the SPD politician said that Germany will “definitely have an infection protection law beyond September 23, which gives us the preparations we need”. The previous legal basis for the protective measures will expire on September 23. With a view to the mask requirement and the FDP, Lauterbach added: “I think we’ll agree there.”
Corona precautions? First wait
The FDP, which wants as few corona protection measures as possible, insists on waiting for several expert reports. In the next week, the Corona Expert Council of the Federal Government wants to present a statement on autumn and winter. In addition, according to the law, a commission to assess the previous corona restrictions should prepare a report by June 30th – at the suggestion of the Union, the virologist Klaus Stöhr should move up to the committee for the retired researcher Christian Drosten, as the health expert Tino Sorge (CDU) announced. Scholz also mentioned an evaluation of the Corona crisis team that had been set up. Everyone was now very much in favor of not anticipating the expertise with “quick shots”.
Holetschek criticizes the hesitant approach. Karl Lauterbach saves himself from one announcement to the next, “while his own coalition partner FDP is playing for time”. “We have to fear that the expert commission’s report will come too late to be able to react appropriately. In a few weeks, the Bundestag will be taking its summer break.”
Source: Stern
