Before the Corona summit on Monday
Country leaders want to maintain measures
01/21/2022 at 9:23 p.m
In view of the increasing number of infections, several prime ministers are speaking out against easing the corona policy. According to a report, the federal government sees it similarly. A tightening of the rules – for example in the form of a lockdown – seems unlikely.
Before the federal and state consultations on the corona situation on Monday, several prime ministers are in favor of maintaining the current containment measures. It doesn’t make sense to tighten up measures, but they shouldn’t be ended either, said Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder. Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil also rejected a softening. According to a report, the federal government is also committed to continuing the previous line.
Söder said the key question is whether the healthcare system is overburdened. This is not the case at the moment. In the omicron variant of the corona virus, the course of the infections is milder, and there is also progress in booster vaccinations and new vaccines. “We want to exercise caution, but with a sense of proportion,” said Söder.
Weil warned in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”: “We must not let the pandemic slip away, that’s why we need further precautionary measures.” Despite the high incidence of corona, a return to a “total lockdown” is not necessary from his point of view.
Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher sees it similar to Söder and Weil. “There is currently no need to relax the regulations,” said Vice Senate spokeswoman Julia Offen. At the meeting of the heads of government with Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday, Tschentscher rather expects “a confirmation of the current strategy and the measures already taken in Hamburg, such as the FFP2 mask requirement in local public transport and the nationwide 2G-plus access model”.
As the magazine “Business Insider” reported, the federal government takes a similar view. She did not want to propose any new tightening of the rules on Monday, the magazine reported, citing government circles. Instead, the current requirements should continue to apply for the time being.
“There is great agreement to keep the schools open”
Saxony Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer pointed out in the newspapers of the editorial network Germany (RND) that the health authorities in some federal states could no longer trace the contacts of corona infected people. “The countries that are particularly affected must explain whether they need further protective measures and whether the Infection Protection Act needs to be changed again so that everyone has the tools they need to fight the pandemic,” he said. That will determine the debate on Monday.
According to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) from today, Friday, the city states currently have the highest seven-day incidences: In Berlin and Bremen the value is just under 1260, in Hamburg it is a good 1220. That was the national average RKI at 706.3, down from 638.8 on Thursday.
The tense infection situation is also heating up the debate about face-to-face teaching in schools again. Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger does not expect any new restrictions from the federal-state government. “There is great agreement to keep the schools open,” she told the “Passauer Neue Presse”. The Education and Science Union (GEW) called for teachers and educators to be given preference in PCR tests. “If the PCR tests are prioritized now, employees in schools and daycare centers must be included,” said GEW chairwoman Maike Finnern to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wants to prioritize the particularly reliable PCR tests due to the high number of infections. They should be reserved primarily for employees in the healthcare sector, for example. At the weekend, Lauterbach wants to draw up a draft resolution for the federal-state committee.