In Switzerland and many other countries, people breathe a sigh of relief: the pandemic that has plagued us for two years is likely to be declared over soon. Next week, the Federal Council will announce how far it intends to go with the relaxation of the measures from February 17th.
On Friday, the Netherlands also announced that they would relax most of the measures on February 18, despite the high number of infections, and that stadiums, theatres, cinemas and restaurants would be open again almost without restrictions.
But what is happening in our neighboring country to the north? In Germany, the Social Democratic Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (58) is still on the brakes with full force. The “minister of fear”, as he is now known, does not want to know anything about easing.
Always new arguments
In the past few days, he warned that the clinics could be overloaded. “I think it’s impossible that the pandemic with Omikron is over,” he said. But the situation in the hospitals has eased.
Now he comes up with new arguments. “We are currently dying between 100 and 150 people a day – still too many,” he said. And on Tuesday he warned on ZDF that there could be 400 to 500 deaths a day if the measures were relaxed.
For comparison: In Switzerland, which has around ten times fewer inhabitants than Germany, an average of 15 people are currently dying of Corona every day. That’s roughly the same number as in Germany.
Many want relaxation
Lauterbach has to take criticism for his braking tactics. Thorsten Frei (48), first head of parliament for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, said he was creating uncertainty with “always new ideas and guidelines”.
CSU regional group chief Alexander Dobrindt (51) says in the “Bild”: “Lauterbach’s constant search for the next argument must come to an end.” The health system is clearly not reaching its limits, the omicron courses are mild, and approval of restrictive measures is falling significantly.
Dobrindt: “Mr. Lauterbach should finally describe the way back to normality and not talk about invented death numbers.”
children in quarantine
Heads are also being shaken in Brussels. Daniel Caspary (45), head of the German CDU/CSU group in the EU Parliament, speaks of a “senseless extra sausage” that is indicative of “Karl Lauterbach’s helpless corona policy”.
This criticism is primarily directed at Germany’s solo effort to quarantine children after trips from other EU countries. Contrary to the EU recommendation, Lauterbach sends children under the age of twelve who are not fully vaccinated to quarantine for at least five days – even if they are healthy.
Scholz speaks his word of power
But Lauterbach does not give up. He fought back on Twitter, writing that he was being criticized for saying “that which I didn’t like to hear but said was obvious”. And he added: “Omicron wishful thinking doesn’t help.”
SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz (63) is now intervening in the dispute. On Friday he put his foot down and announced that he wanted to take further steps at the next meeting with the federal states on Wednesday.
And the signs point to opening. Scholz: “The scientific forecasts show us that the peak of the wave is in sight. This allows us to take a first step towards opening up at the meeting of the federal and state governments next week and then to look at further steps for spring.”