In the fight against the Omikron variant of the corona virus, the access rules for restaurants are being tightened in Germany. The federal and state governments agreed on Friday that a 2G-plus rule should apply nationwide in the future, regardless of the number of infections. Vaccinated and convalescent people then have to show a daily negative corona test or a booster vaccination. An antigen test is sufficient. However, not all countries want to participate.
From the perspective of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), a negative rapid antigen test of vaccinated and recovered persons offers sufficient security for visiting restaurants, cafés and pubs. “That has been carefully discussed with all the experts,” said Scholz on Friday when asked whether PCR tests might not make more sense for freestyle tests. The rule that has now been adopted was considered by everyone to be the most suitable and easiest to implement, said Scholz.
You have to prepare for the fact that the Omikron variant will increase the number of infections, said Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) after the deliberations. “It is clear that Omikron will keep us busy for a long time. And that is why we cannot give the all-clear for our health system.” Scholz added: “Everything that is necessary is done.”
The federal and state governments had joined forces for the first time this year to discuss how to proceed in the pandemic. It was also decided to shorten and simplify the quarantine for contact persons and the isolation of infected people. Contact persons will then be exempted from quarantine if they have a booster vaccination, have been newly vaccinated twice, have been vaccinated and have recovered or have recently recovered. For everyone else, isolation or quarantine should generally end after ten days if they do not allow themselves to be “tested” beforehand. That works after seven days.
Scholz urged everyone who had not yet been vaccinated to do so now. “We need further vaccination progress,” he said. The vaccination rate is still too low. Anyone who has already been vaccinated twice should get a boost.
The federal and state governments reaffirmed the current contact restrictions, but did not tighten them. So it remains that private gatherings of vaccinated and convalescent with a maximum of 10 people are allowed. For people who have not been vaccinated and who have not recovered, only members of their own household and a maximum of two people from another household are allowed to meet. Children up to the age of 14 are excluded.
Saxony-Anhalt is initially sticking to its currently applicable Corona measures and will not additionally rely on tests for recovered and vaccinated people in the catering trade. In Saxony-Anhalt, unlike in other federal states, there is almost only the delta variant of the corona virus, which is why new measures are initially not necessary, said Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) in Magdeburg. “It is our job to find differentiated solutions.” Everyone can find their own timing.
In Bavaria, the implementation of the introduction of the 2G-plus rule for restaurants, cafes and pubs has not yet been decided. “I asked the health minister to check whether this is really necessary from our point of view. We are very, very cautious and skeptical. We also made a declaration on this today and we will then make a final decision on next Tuesday,” said Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) on Friday after the consultations in front of journalists in Munich.
Söder emphasized that Bavaria had issued a protocol declaration according to which the federal-state resolution “largely lagged behind the Bavarian legal situation that was already in force”. Further tightening – such as an incidence-independent 2G-plus rule in the entire catering trade – would first have to be examined on the basis of the most reliable scientific expertise possible.
In Bavaria, bars and discos are currently closed, unlike in other federal states, and restaurants in the Free State in regional Corona hotspots must also close their doors. The resolution now adopted provides that vaccinated and convalescent people must present a daily negative corona test or a booster vaccination in order to gain access.
It is important to involve society in the measures, said Söder. Since the experts in the conference could not have adequately answered all questions, questions unfortunately remained unanswered. Söder also complained that there was no majority at the conference for a nationwide FFP2 mask requirement. According to science, these are still the best protection against omicrons.
Berlin’s governing mayor, Franziska Giffey, hopes that the planned stricter 2G-plus rules for the catering industry will give the current booster vaccination campaign even more momentum. “This is an additional incentive for boosting, this is a desired incentive that we also want,” said the SPD politician on Friday after federal-state consultations in the capital. Because people with a booster vaccination would have more protection and a milder course of disease in the pandemic if they were infected with corona.
Source: Nachrichten
