opinion
On, on and on. Instead of Delta, Omikron now employs the country. And after the first conference of the prime ministers with the chancellor in the new year, it is clear that little will change. The signs point to further lockdown light rather than loosening.
This new year 2022 is only seven days old. And what can you say ?: It already feels like the old one. Quite used. Politically, it starts like last year ended: with Corona. With a video link between the Chancellor and the members of the Prime Minister’s Conference (MPK), followed by an appearance in front of a pile of press. With vaccination appeals, contact restrictions and warnings of the consequences of rapidly increasing numbers of infections. With all the stress that you don’t get tired of slowly, but faster and faster. Except that we now know again that the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet is called an omicron. Really didn’t have to be.
So this 2022 begins with unpleasant messages, but – after all, something has to work at least a little better – the government officials package them in a more friendly way. After all, it is the old epidemic, but essentially new staff who are taking care of it. The situation is “better than one had feared,” says the new Chancellor Olaf Scholz, even if he “does not want to give the all-clear for the health system”. But at least one is “happy to make decisions”. Good to know. Hendrik Wüst, the new Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, also praises “forward-looking and reliable action”; “Comprehensibility and proportionality” of the pandemic policy his colleague Franziska Giffey, new mayor of Berlin.
The Omikron wave is still ahead of Germany
What kind of positive sprinkling you can do when there is really only bad news to announce. Because it is true: the infection numbers have not yet skyrocketed due to the Omikron variant as in many neighboring countries, but it is very likely that this development will be ahead of us in the next few days and weeks. The high rate of unvaccinated people and the extreme risk of infection of these corona variants speak in favor of it.
The country is therefore moving under the Scholz government – and despite the freedom fighters ruling by the FDP at its side – initially more in the direction of an extended lockdown light than in the direction of loosening. Admittedly, the group decided on little further tightening this Friday. And at one point even a relief: The quarantine rules for infected people and their contact persons are being eased somewhat, the prescribed time of isolation is slightly shortened. However, this is mainly due to the fact that when the number of Omikron cases rises sharply, too many staff in hospitals or the police risk being absent due to quarantine.
G2 + as an incentive for boosting
But: All existing contact and access restrictions continue to apply; what is closed, such as clubs and discos, remains closed. And in the future only those who have recovered, vaccinated and also tested will come to pubs and restaurants. Exception: those who have already been boosted have access without going through the test center. This is a “desired incentive for boosting,” says Franziska Giffey. And the Chancellor, who was slightly mumbled on that day, got a clear message to the people at this point: Anyone who has the opportunity to be vaccinated should “not go there, but run over there.”
Only they don’t run that should run. The unvaccinated do not even trot, at best they go, well, for a walk. So far nothing has been able to change the unwillingness or discomfort of around a quarter of Germans. Nothing has changed when the quick tests had to be paid for in the meantime last autumn. Little has changed after the freedoms of those who have not been vaccinated have been further curtailed. Little changed when the promised 30 million doses of vaccine were actually there in December. Nothing changed when a vaccination obligation was threatened. It will probably come in the spring, despite the prevailing procrastination tendency among a number of political actors. To use? Uncertain.
Federal government is standing still – not only with Corona
The – new – government, which has written new beginnings and progress on the flags and in the coalition agreement, is in any case on the spot. As a Christmas message, the Minister of Economic Affairs, who recently became a Green Party member, simply buried the climate protection goals for the next two years; not available, sorry. That is just by the way. Has nothing to do with Corona. But it shows that there is not much movement in other areas either. As far as the pandemic is concerned, this could even be considered positive, after all, the health system is not collapsing – yet. However, this attitude is not demanding. Rather fatalistic.
The new year is only seven days old. There is still a lot of room for improvement. That’s the good news. The bad news is: there are still 358 days in which everything could stay as it is. At best. We’ll talk to you after the next MPK on January 24th.
Source From: Stern
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