Lauterbach urges caution
Calls for a relaxation plan are getting louder
2/9/2022 9:03 am
The number of infected people is still rising to new highs. Despite all the warnings from the Minister of Health, the debate about opening steps is picking up speed. The obligation to vaccinate in the healthcare system also continues to cause discussions – there is a great desire for a uniform approach.
The calls for easing perspectives in the corona pandemic are getting louder despite the further increase in the number of infections. The leader of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Christian Dürr, told the “Bild” newspaper that as soon as there was no longer a risk of the health system being overloaded, restrictions would have to be withdrawn. “That’s why we are already talking about concrete opening perspectives.” The next prime ministers’ conference should take the first decisions on this. The German Association of General Practitioners called on the federal government to draw up an opening plan for the exit from the corona measures. Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach only warned on Tuesday that measures would be lifted quickly. “We don’t really have the situation under control yet,” said the SPD politician. A peak in the omicron wave is expected for the middle of this month. He described the discussion about easing as out of place.
The federal chairman of the German General Practitioners Association, Ulrich Weigeldt, told the editorial network Germany (RND): “Politics must already develop a concept of how the opening steps should look like in concrete terms.” It is essential to avoid that hectically inconsistent and not well thought-out relaxation measures are decided.
The Green politician Dieter Janecek called for minors to be taken into account first when loosening. “Children and young people finally need complete normality again, they should be the first to benefit from openings,” he told the “Bild” newspaper. For youth sports and club life, “all restrictions should be lifted promptly”. FDP health expert Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus wants to give children “broad access to educational, sports and cultural facilities”. “This should be done regardless of vaccination status and be implemented first when measures are relaxed.”
On the other hand, the education and science union warned against losing sight of the consequences for the schools in the event of possible easing. “Schools are not islands, infections are carried into the facilities and spread here too,” said Maike Finnern, the chairwoman of the Education and Science Union (GEW), the RND. “Relaxing protective measures in other areas of society therefore means accepting that the number of infections in schools will continue to rise – and that more and more facilities will have to close.”
Hospital society no longer expects overload
Meanwhile, the German Hospital Society assumes that the clinics are coping well with the omicron wave. “I currently no longer expect the German healthcare system to be overburdened in the coming weeks,” said CEO Gerald Gass of the “Bild” newspaper. The current corona measures should apply until the peak of the omicron wave, which the federal government expects in one to two weeks. After that, politicians could “without a doubt envisage gradual easing for the coming weeks”.
In the dispute over the implementation of the facility-related vaccination requirement, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach continues to assume that Bavaria will also implement the vaccination requirement for nursing and hospital staff. There is no “mechanism” to force Prime Minister Markus Söder to do so. “I hope we can also work here with normal reason,” said the SPD politician on Tuesday evening in the ZDF “heute-journal”. CSU boss Söder had announced a suspension of the partial vaccination requirement.
Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans said on Tuesday evening in the ARD “Tagesthemen” that the implementation of the law should be suspended nationwide because “national applications” are needed. “Only then is this law a good law, currently it is a bad law.” The German Professional Association for Nursing Professions (DBfK) also called for a nationwide approach to implementation. In order to give the “facilities, the employees and above all the people who need care security, we need nationwide, clear and well-founded regulations,” DBfK President Christel Bienstein told the RND.
Due to open questions about how to deal with the corona pandemic, the left is demanding a government statement for the coming week. Not only Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Health Minister Lauterbach, but also Economics Minister Robert Habeck from the Greens should answer questions in Parliament, Parliamentary Secretary Jan Korte demanded in a fire letter to the Chancellery.