Shortening of the convalescent status
Lindner: Wieler’s approach “extremely unfortunate”
2/8/2022, 5:15 am
After the surprising reduction in the status of convalescents by the Robert Koch Institute, there is resistance in the FDP to its leadership. First General Secretary Djir-Sarai Wieler attacks, now party leader Lindner follows suit. He has “great doubts” about the decision.
The FDP chairman Christian Lindner has reiterated criticism from his party about the decision by the Robert Koch Institute to shorten the convalescent status and increased the pressure on RKI boss Lothar Wieler. He had “great doubts” about this decision – which was as unannounced as it was surprising, said Lindner on Monday evening on the “RTL Direkt” program.
“The technical and communication decision was in the hands of Mr. Wieler and I think one can say that that was extremely unfortunate,” said the Federal Minister of Finance. However, it is up to Health Minister Karl Lauterbach to express his confidence, emphasized Lindner. He referred to the fact that the RKI had unexpectedly shortened the recovered status from six to three months with effect from January 15. Many citizens lost their right to go to restaurants, bars or gyms almost overnight. A new regulation stipulates that the RKI sets the deadline – but the timing came as a surprise.
Before Lindner, the designated FDP Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai had personally criticized the actions of the RKI and its boss in the “Spiegel”. “I have great respect for the achievements of RKI boss Lothar Wieler over the past two years during the pandemic,” he said. With a view to the shortening of the recovered status, however, he added: “Due to this recent misconduct, which unfortunately is not an isolated case, Mr. Wieler can no longer be sure of the trust of the FDP.”
So far, the FDP has been alone in the coalition with its criticism of Wieler. Deputy government spokeswoman Chistiane Hoffmann confirmed on Monday that Wieler still enjoys “the full trust of the federal government”. At the weekend, politicians from the coalition parties SPD and Greens had already backed Wieler.
Misunderstanding about union course
Linder comments on the fact that Bavaria will not now implement the facility-related compulsory vaccination: “However, I am a little surprised about the course correction by the CDU and CSU. It couldn’t go fast enough with a general compulsory vaccination for everyone over 18 and now there is a change.” As far as the corona measures are concerned, the Federal Finance Minister is again in favor of quick relaxation. “Not all of the measures that are still in place, that are discussed between the federal and state governments, are necessary. We can relax there.” And further: “With the next Prime Minister’s conference on February 16, 2G should be discontinued and replaced by a mask requirement. We still need that at the moment for reasons of caution.”