Monday 22 November 2021
Haunting words from Merkel
“Corona situation will surpass everything we had”
Chancellor Merkel warns and criticizes the not yet ruling traffic light for failures in the fight against Corona: “We have a situation that will surpass everything we have had so far,” she says on the CDU’s federal executive board.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has again shown concern in view of the rising number of corona infections. “We have a highly dramatic situation. What is now true is not sufficient,” she said at a meeting of the CDU’s federal executive committee, to which she was connected from the Chancellery. “We have a situation that will surpass anything we have had before.”
The number of cases doubled every twelve days, said Merkel, according to participants. Of course, this also affects the occupancy of the intensive care beds.
In the current week, the number of infections is likely to continue to rise, said the Chancellor, who is only in office in an executive position. You have to stop the exponential increase quickly, otherwise you will reach the limit of your ability to act.
“Even 2G is no longer enough”
She has the impression that many people are not aware of how serious the situation is. Vaccination is important and right. But vaccination only helps in the long term; the current development will not be stopped in this way. Intensive care physicians would already speak of a highly dramatic situation.
2G will no longer be sufficient either, stressed Merkel. The federal states would have to adopt measures by November 24th, which would then have to take effect. The difference is now: In countries you can then no longer take nationwide measures.
On November 25th, that is on Thursday, the “epidemic situation of national importance” that has been in force until now will expire. This formulation from the Infection Protection Act has so far been the basis of the corona measures in the federal states. The new majority in the Bundestag consisting of the SPD, Greens and FDP had agreed not to prolong the epidemic situation.
If a federal state issues an ordinance on the basis of the epidemic situation by November 25th, it will apply until December 15th. Saxony and Bavaria already made use of this last week. The minister-presidents and the then presumably new federal government want to discuss whether this regulation is sufficient in a federal-state conference (MPK) on December 9th.
The countries can no longer close everything
Even after the new legal situation, the state governments can continue to pass corona ordinances. However, the exit restrictions and the closure of schools, restaurants, bars and pubs have been removed. “The federal states can still restrict access to gastronomy or other areas, for example 2G or 3G or a mask requirement”, explained the expert for the Infection Protection Act, Andrea Kießling, at ntv.de. “But you can no longer close everything.” If the state parliaments allow the state governments to do so, leisure facilities such as clubs can also be closed.
The Bundestag decided to revise the Infection Protection Act after a controversial debate on Thursday in the Bundestag. The Federal Council passed the law on Friday without a dissenting vote.
Merkel had already expressed her criticism of the new Infection Protection Act on the Thursday after the MPK. “If the epidemic situation of national scope is lifted – which does not make sense to me at all, what I have always considered to be wrong as a psychological signal – then I would at least have wished that the countries had the same measures available as before”, she said.
Her presumed successor, Olaf Scholz, stated on the other hand that the Infection Protection Act now offers a “much more extensive catalog of measures than was previously available”. New in the Infection Protection Act are 3G in the workplace, 3G in buses and trains and mandatory testing in nursing homes.