Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach and Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann presented their draft for future measures to combat corona. School closures should not happen again.
Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann from the FDP (on the left) and Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) worked together on the new Infection Protection Act.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) and Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) have agreed after weeks of quarrels and on Wednesday the Draft for a new Infection Protection Act and thus presented the new Corona rules for autumn. The current rules expire on September 23rd. The regulations now presented come from the well-known toolbox.
There will continue to be various areas with a mask requirement and a test requirement for access to various facilities. However, school closures, lockdowns and curfews are clearly excluded.
“Effective and reasonable”
In agreement with many scientists, the ministers expect a seasonal increase in the number of infections in autumn and fear that the health system and critical infrastructure facilities will again be heavily burdened or even overburdened. In view of this, the Minister of Justice is convinced that the planned measures are effective and reasonable. Lauterbach pointed out that the new Infection Protection Act is an important part of the autumn strategy against Corona.
In order to curb the expected infections, a mask requirement on airplanes or long-distance trains should apply nationwide between October 1, 2022 and April 7, 2023. In addition, there should be a mask and test requirement for access to hospitals, care facilities and employees in outpatient care services.
Since masks have been shown to both reduce the release of viruses into the air and protect their wearers from virus uptake, a mask is an effective weapon against contagion during times of high virus circulation. It therefore makes epidemiological sense to make masks compulsory in sensitive areas such as hospitals or care facilities in order to protect vulnerable people.
Exceptions are possible
Apparently, both ministers were allowed to leave a scent mark for the planned exceptions to the mandatory test. Because according to the draft law, newly vaccinated and newly recovered people (both processes must not have been more than three months in the past) are exempt from the obligation to be tested. Lauterbach may want to use this to motivate people to get vaccinated again in the fall. And Buschmann prevented the general 2G or 3G rules that he and many in his party rejected.
From an epidemiological point of view, however, this makes only limited sense. Because, as has been shown in recent months, renewed infections can also occur during this period, and those affected are then contagious.
It is not consistent that a nationwide mask requirement should apply in long-distance but not in local public transport. It is true that you stay longer in an ICE from Berlin to Munich than in an S-Bahn or U-Bahn. But in the latter one is often crowded. If an infected person exhales viruses there, about 15 minutes are enough for bystanders to become infected.
Flexibility for the federal states
However, the federal states can make masks compulsory in local public transport. They can also introduce the masks for publicly accessible interiors and schools or extend the obligation to test to community facilities such as daycare centers, schools and homes for asylum seekers. However, as the Minister of Justice emphasized, there will then be exceptions for culture, leisure, sport and gastronomy. In these social areas it is important to rely more on personal responsibility.
Countries are also given the opportunity to “identify a concrete threat to the functionality of the health system or other critical infrastructure”. The criteria for this, such as the number of cases and the occupancy of the hospitals, are laid down in the law. If a state parliament recognizes such a dangerous situation, it can also specify a mask requirement for open-air events, mandatory hygiene concepts, distance regulations and upper limits for visitors.
According to the draft law, there should only be a few nationwide measures. The countries are given the opportunity to react flexibly to the local situation. This can make epidemiological sense. It is neither medically sensible nor communicable if a ten-year-old has to sit in class wearing a mask in Schleswig-Holstein because the number of corona cases in Bavaria or Saxony is high. But there will probably be a patchwork of measures nationwide in the third Corona winter, which could reduce acceptance.
The draft law is to be passed by the cabinet in August and then introduced in parliament. This ensures that the regulations can come into force in good time, emphasized both ministers.