Keep wearing masks?
Criticism of planned corona easing is getting louder
03/14/2022, 04:48 am
This week will be eventful in relation to Corona, while the incidence is rising: the facility-related vaccination requirement is approaching, most restrictions are due to fall on Sunday and the Prime Ministers want to consult. But now doubts are growing about the chosen path.
A few days before most corona restrictions expire, there is continued criticism of the federal government’s pandemic policy. “The position of the Federal Minister of Health is deeply contradictory,” said Eugen Brysch, the head of the Patient Protection Foundation, the editorial network Germany. “If the law is passed as it was introduced by the federal cabinet, it will make all the work of the last two years obsolete,” said Brysch about the planned change to the Infection Protection Act.
On Wednesday, changes to the Infection Protection Act are to be discussed in the Bundestag for the first time; most of the nationwide corona requirements are to be lifted by March 20th. Just two days later, the plenum is to decide on the controversial draft by SPD Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach and FDP Justice Minister Marco Buschmann. Lauterbach and Buschmann propose significantly reduced basic protection for all of Germany.
Nationwide, only mask requirements in nursing homes, clinics and local transport should be possible – and test requirements in homes and schools. The mask requirement on trains and planes should also remain nationwide. However, the federal states should be able to decide on further corona requirements for hotspots to be announced. In view of the rapid spread of the virus in the past few days, however, many have doubts about this course.
“Maintain mask requirement indoors”
The Green health politician Janosch Dahmen now wants to campaign for a change in the government draft. “I am very much in favor of adapting the draft law to reform the Infection Protection Act again and maintaining the obligation to wear masks indoors as a basic protective measure,” Dahmen told the editorial network Germany. Brysch also spoke out in favor of improving the mask requirement, but also for a legal right to regular corona tests for those in need of care outside of inpatient facilities and their relatives.
The FDP, on the other hand, defended the approach. The abolition of most corona restrictions on March 20 is a great success after two years of the pandemic, said the designated FDP Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai of the “Rheinische Post”. At the same time, the countries remained able to act should the corona situation deteriorate drastically again. “This combination of responsible action and the end of restrictions on freedom is exactly right,” he emphasized.
The federal states want to discuss the situation with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a prime ministerial conference on Thursday. Also on that day, applications for a general obligation to vaccinate will be discussed in the Bundestag for the first time.
The so-called institution-related corona vaccination starts this week. Employees in nursing homes and clinics must submit proof of being vaccinated or recovered by Tuesday – or a certificate that they cannot be vaccinated. Furthermore, a lower level of corona occupational safety is to apply in the future. To this end, the cabinet wants to adopt a regulation from the Ministry of Social Affairs on Wednesday. In the future, employers should largely be able to decide for themselves how they assess the risk and which conditions should still apply in the company.