“The Completely Wrong Signal”
Kretschmann does not want to relax before Easter
2/1/2022, 4:18 p.m
The corona incidences in Germany are high – but there are calls for relaxation from many directions. However, Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Kretschmann does not want to talk about the end of restrictions before Easter. Headwind comes from the FDP.
Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann from the Greens sees no chance of the corona restrictions ending at least until mid-April. He does not see a debate about exit strategies before Easter, said the head of government in Stuttgart. “We are not starting a debate about exit strategies – that would be completely inappropriate and send the completely wrong signal.”
Baden-Württemberg recently tightened rules, said Kretschmann with a view to the FFP2 mask requirement in local public transport. This will not be thwarted by “unfounded exit debates”. You are still in a dramatic situation.
The seven-day incidence of new corona infections is below 1000 in only 5 of 44 urban and rural districts in the southwest. 274 Covid patients are currently being treated in the intensive care units in the country. The number of corona infected people who came to a hospital within a week and per 100,000 inhabitants is 4.8. There are currently many complaints from overburdened medical practices, said Kretschmann.
“Focus on the situation and not on the Easter bunny”
The leader of the FDP parliamentary group in the Baden-Württemberg state parliament, Hans-Ulrich Rülke, sees things a little differently: “You have to be guided by the situation and not by the Easter bunny.”
However, the nationwide corona numbers are still very high. As the RKI reports, the seven-day incidence of new corona infections in Germany is currently reaching another high. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), it was 1206.2 nationwide in the morning. On Monday it was 1176.8, on Tuesday last week it was 894.3.
In November, the federal and state governments had defined the so-called hospitalization incidence as the decisive benchmark for tightening or relaxing the corona measures. This value indicates how many people per 100,000 inhabitants are hospitalized within seven days because of a corona infection. According to the latest RKI report, the hospitalization incidence on Monday was 4.64 nationwide.