Will the Corona measures be scaled back shortly? In autumn, the government traffic light announced Feedom Day for the end of March. Then came Omicron, the debate was off the table. But now she’s alive again.
When will the restrictions end? If Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has his way, then very soon. He believes that the corona measures can be relaxed in a few weeks. Lauterbach said on Sunday evening on Bild TV: “I think we will relax well before Easter.” He was “firmly convinced” of that. The prerequisite, however, is that the omicron wave reaches its peak in mid-February, as expected. “You can’t distribute the bear’s skin before it’s shot,” warned Lauterbach.
The Minister of Health could imagine that easing would be discussed at the next prime ministerial conference on February 16. Whether there will actually be any easing “depends on how we stand then.”
At the moment, Lauterbach is strictly against easing: He thinks it would be “crazy” if the measures were relaxed when the number of infected people was high. The minister asked: “What would happen in Germany if we proceeded as in England?” His answer: “Then we would have roughly 300 deaths per day. But we have significantly fewer, namely 60 to 80.” With the measures “we save lives every day,” emphasized Lauterbach.
On Monday morning, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported another record seven-day incidence of 1426.0. The number of new infections within 24 hours rose to 95,267 – compared to 78,318 a week ago. There were also 49 other deaths related to the coronavirus.
No premature loosening
Lauterbach received support from the Greens chairwoman on the health committee, Saskia Weishaupt. “We have a responsibility to protect the health and life of all people, which also includes not simply announcing hasty openings and easing,” said the Green politician of the “Augsburger Allgemeine”.
Weishaupt said she sees little opportunity for easing before March. “The number of unvaccinated people over the age of 60 is too high,” emphasized Weishaupt. “In this group we count three million unvaccinated people in Germany,” she adds. “We shouldn’t endanger children and the over-60s in particular with a premature opening policy – the same applies to people who cannot be vaccinated due to previous illnesses,” she told the newspaper.
“We are currently working flat out on the question of how the protective measures against infection should continue after March 19,” explained the coalition politician. “Personally, I see the need to extend individual measures.” On March 19, the Infection Protection Act, which forms the basis of corona measures such as the obligation to wear masks and to provide proof of vaccination status, expires.
According to Weishaupt, many citizens want better crisis communication from politicians. “But that also includes not giving false hope, which then leads to disappointment,” she emphasized. This means that openings for mid-February cannot yet be announced.
End of 2G – and regional easing?
The chairman of the board of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, said, however, that the opening debate was not coming too early, but “just right”. “We must now determine what will happen, when and under what circumstances,” he demanded in the “Rheinische Post”. “But we have to be extremely careful that some discussants don’t confuse the abstract debate with concrete instructions.”
With a view to a possible nationwide lifting of the 2G rule in retail, Montgomery called for better scientific data, which must then be applied nationwide. “What matters is where the infection drivers are. Isn’t it the contacts in retail? Then 2G should be replaced there by a consistent mask requirement,” he told the newspaper. “We need more scientific evidence of what is happening where. But we should also implement this nationwide and consistently. Not Hü in Brandenburg and Hott in Saxony-Anhalt,” emphasized the World Medical Director.
The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz, on the other hand, spoke in the “Rheinische Post” in favor of a regional approach: “We have very different infection processes. Schleswig-Holstein could almost follow the Danish path. For Bavaria and Saxony that is not yet the case in question. So we have to proceed regionally.”
England and Denmark have now abolished almost all corona measures. This had fueled an opening debate in Germany.
Source: Stern
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