Tuesday, November 02, 2021
Further restrictions are possible
Merkel: “There will be severe restrictions for those who have not been vaccinated”
The fourth wave is rolling with power across the country. The number of infections is increasing. Concern is growing among Chancellor Merkel. At a top CDU meeting, the Chancellor is now holding out the prospect of new steps. In focus – the unvaccinated.
Chancellor Angela Merkel announces after ntv information in the CDU federal executive board that there will be “severe restrictions for unvaccinated people”. She is extremely concerned about the exponential growth of the infections. At the meeting, both she and the acting Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn spoke about the situation in the pandemic. Daily tests in the workplace for unvaccinated people are not excluded. The restrictions could go beyond the 2G model. North Rhine-Westphalia, which chairs the Prime Minister’s Conference, is now to explore a new federal-state round.
The recorded new infections have been increasing for days. According to the Robert Koch Institute, the seven-day incidence is currently 153.7. The occupancy of the intensive care units with corona patients is increasing. However, there are massive regional differences. Thuringia (306.5), Saxony (284.4) and Bavaria (248.9) have very high incidences – in Schleswig-Holstein, on the other hand, the value is significantly lower at 70.6. In Bavaria alone there are three districts with an incidence of over 600. At the same time, the rate of vaccination is stagnating across the country.
Against this background, the debate about booster vaccinations for the population is gaining momentum. While Spahn again called for a so-called booster vaccination for almost all age groups, the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) put the brakes on. KBV boss Andreas Gassen criticized the fact that politicians do not adhere to the recommendation of the Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO) that currently only all over 70-year-olds should be re-vaccinated.
The STIKO boss Thomas Mertens said that the commission is examining whether it should recommend the booster vaccination less because of the individual protection, but because of the lower spread of the virus in the population. He referred to similar experiences in Israel.
The health ministers will discuss the situation on Thursday and Friday. After the meeting of the CDU federal executive board, party leader Armin Laschet said that “the suggestion had been deepened” in the committee that a federal and state conference would take place “very soon” to talk about the corona situation.
The chairman of the Prime Minister’s Conference, North Rhine-Westphalia’s new head of government Hendrik Wüst, “will seek talks with colleagues from the other countries”. At the moment there is “the special situation that we have an incumbent federal government,” said Laschet, “and a traffic light coalition that is currently preparing and which in some cases sets very different accents around the question of what will begin on November 24th” after the current epidemic situation of national scope has expired, “should actually happen”.