From next Sunday, only a few general corona protection rules will be in place. Where the situation is critical, more should be possible regionally – but critics continue to storm.
The dispute over the so-called hotspot regulation for further corona requirements in areas with a critical situation does not end.
The Union underlined its sharp criticism of the new nationwide legal basis for protective measures, but the large municipal associations also expressed concerns. Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann from the FDP meanwhile warned the federal states to only declare hotspots where there is a specific danger to the functioning of the health system.
As of Sunday, the federal states are only allowed to issue a few general protective rules, such as masks and tests in facilities such as clinics and nursing homes. However, you can impose further restrictions for regional hotspots, for example with more mask requirements and access rules, if the state parliament determines a critical situation there. Several countries complain that there are no legally secure criteria for this. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) made it clear on Monday that the new legal basis would not be changed again.
“Lauterbach and Buschmann failed with a bang”
The health policy spokesman for the Union faction, Tino Sorge, told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”: “The central terms of the hotspot regulation should have been defined in the law, with clear threshold values and transparent criteria.” sharp
The state should not link interventions to “vague words” – “especially not nationwide for an entire federal state”.
The conference of health ministers on Monday was the last desperate attempt by the federal states, and one by the federal government
to obtain reliable information on hotspot regulation. “This is where Health Minister Lauterbach and Justice Minister Buschmann failed miserably,” said the CDU politician.
The general manager of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities, Gerd Landsberg, also sees problems. “Unfortunately, the legislature has not set any criteria under which conditions a hotspot regulation can be considered,” he told the “Rheinische Post”. “Even from a temporal perspective, it should be questionable whether the state parliaments – for example during holiday periods – could issue individual provisions for individual regions,” criticized Landsberg. “That’s why we expect the countries to agree on a regulation that is as uniform as possible, so that an entire country area or large parts can be declared a hotspot as a precaution.”
The general manager of the German Association of Cities, Helmut Dedy, told the editorial network Germany (RND) that the new Infection Protection Act curtails the toolbox for states and cities. “We expect that the law will have to be corrected again soon. It wasn’t a highlight of the traffic light.”
No thresholds quantified
Thresholds from when a region is a hotspot are not quantified in the law. The general requirement is that there is a risk of the clinic capacity being overloaded. Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach had named four criteria by which this could be measured: if clinics could no longer provide emergency care – due to too many corona patients or staff shortages, if they had to cancel planned interventions or transfer patients to other houses – and if guidelines to a minimum presence of nursing staff could not be met. CDU politician concern criticized that these were “far too imprecise”.
After the conference of the state health ministers, Bavaria’s head of department Klaus Holetschek said on Monday evening: “Everyone agreed on the matter: the obligation to wear masks indoors would actually still make sense at the current time – nationwide.” The fact that this could not be extended despite this is “not to be outdone in terms of absurdity”. The federal government argues that a nationwide mask requirement is not possible because there is no risk of the health system being overloaded nationwide.
Lauterbach: “We’re losing time”
Lauterbach had repeatedly asked the federal states to issue more extensive everyday requirements for regional hotspots with a critical situation. “We are wasting time. From my point of view, action must be taken now, »said the SPD politician.
The countries must now make concrete decisions. Several cabinets meet this Tuesday. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has already declared itself a statewide hotspot by the end of April, and the city state of Hamburg is planning to do so. Other countries currently see no legal basis for a hotspot regulation.
Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann told the “Bild” newspaper: “Where the hotspot rules are to apply, the legal requirements must also be in place.” In particular, it is about “a specific threat to the functionality of the health system”. If there is no danger to the functioning of the health system, “measures before the administrative courts will fail,” warned Buschmann.
Source: Stern
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