Lothar Wieler qualified for his immediate dismissal as head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Yesterday he struck up to protect against Omikron with the demand for “maximum contact restrictions”, effective immediately and until mid-January. That would have meant: total lockdown, restaurants closed, stay at home, longer Christmas holidays. Wieler himself is a member of the new Corona Expert Council, which only suggested “well-planned and well-communicated contact restrictions”.
With his solo, Wieler apparently tried to gain interpretative sovereignty in the sense of a harassment group around the Charité virologist Christian Drosten – just before the federal government switched with the federal states. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) said that Wieler’s publication was “not coordinated” and that the basis of the decisions is the Expert Council, not the RKI. That shouldn’t happen. Chancellor Olaf Scholz is as amazed at such robinsonades as the rest of the republic.
The group then decided on a program that is far from the extremes of the RKI boss. From December 28th, this includes:
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- an upper limit of ten people (also for vaccinated and convalescent) at celebrations,
- Large events without spectators and the closing of discos and clubs as well
- the faster introduction of the general compulsory vaccination.
Olaf Scholz: “This pandemic is troubling us all. We are all crumbling and tired of the pandemic. But that doesn’t help. We have to stand together again and in many cases keep our distance. “It sounds like the last contest against Corona for the time being.
The states of Baden-Württemberg and Saxony are on the hard Wieler line. They distanced themselves from the current resolutions – they were “not far enough”, they had recorded in a memo in the minutes. Sufficient ability to act is not guaranteed “to be able to react quickly to a worsening situation”. The demand is to explain the epidemic emergency again so that a lockdown can occur nationwide.
As a member of the Corona Expert Council, the Bonn virologist Hendrick Streeck points out that the incidences in Germany – unlike in other countries – have recently fallen. It was recommended to take Omikron seriously and to slow down the expected fifth wave. The most recent resolutions are “a good way to begin with.” If necessary, you can readjust very quickly. Reason sometimes sounds unspectacular.
The “virocracy” that broke out in Germany in March 2020 included the desire of many Germans to listen to the comments of experts as intensely as if the current lottery numbers were being announced here. Alexander Kekulé from the Martin Luther University in Halle an der Saale was one of the stars from the very beginning. Tempi passati. Now the alma mater, which in this case is no longer one, has issued a “temporary dismissal” against the professor.
The scientist is said to have not made enough courses, it is said, which the accused strictly denies. Kekulé himself speaks of a “political process”, as it is known that he “has repeatedly expressed criticism of the federal government and the RKI”. Lothar Wieler will probably quickly issue a press release on this.
The economy, especially the “critical infrastructure”, is preparing for the expected Omikron wave with emergency plans. The energy group Eon, for example, wants to accommodate employees in network control rooms on site, preparing “for all conceivable crisis scenarios”. In general, the executive floors take the crisis very seriously.
This is shown by a Handelsblatt survey on the question of how Germans are preparing for Omikron. It emerged that bank employees have largely returned to the home office. And the entrepreneurs rely on the booster vaccination – as with the mechanical engineering company Kion. There they boast a vaccination rate of 98 percent.
The self-employed and small companies took great pride in the “Corona emergency aid” in spring 2020 – until the rude awakening came. Now people are registered in disbelief that the state is demanding back around 300 million euros from companies, as my colleagues have calculated. Reason: You had only paid grants. But in the current competition between small companies because of Corona, such numbers are poisonous. More than 30,000 companies and self-employed are affected. Some people in this camp remember a great word of honor given by the Finance Minister at the time, Scholz: “Nothing has to be paid back”. The only thing missing was the addition: “Only about my corpse”.
When we talk about health policy so extensively, the silent, temporary end of the “electronic prescription” in medicine should not be missing. It should start at the end of the year and ban the old paper recipe from the economic Stone Age from pharmacies, doctors’ offices and hospitals. But now Minister Lauterbach has postponed the eagerly awaited start of the e-prescription – for “indefinitely”.
This is what it always sounds like when planes or trains have broken down and do not take off after such announcements. So it looks bad about a favorite project of former minister Jens Spahn (CDU). Lauterbach wrote to the responsible state company Gematik that it had become clear “that the necessary technical systems are not yet available across the board”. An awkwardly formulated indictment.
For some people, football is the most beautiful minor matter in the world, for others it is the most important money matter in life. Particularly noticeable is the world football association Fifa, a home of corruption and vanity, which from 2028 will no longer play the World Cup every four years, but every two years.
President Gianni Infantino calculates additional proceeds of $ 4.4 billion – and more generous payouts to everyone. Infantino in a messianic pose: “In the end everyone will benefit, the big or the rich, the small or the poor.” However, the associations of Europe and South America have clearly spoken out against Infantino’s ideas. There is even a plan to allow all ten South American nations to participate in the “Nations League” in Europe from 2024 onwards. Greed always plays along and is never on the substitute bench.
And then there is Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 72, Sheikh of Dubai, who, according to a ruling by the High Court in London, is losing a small part of his multi-billion dollar fortune. He has to pay his former wife Princess Haya, 47, £ 554 million for child rearing and security. She fled to Great Britain with her two children in 2019. The process has opened up deep insights into the standard of living of the elite in the Gulf, which is “really opulent and unprecedented,” said the judge. Haya, a Jordanian king’s daughter, had complained bitterly that her capital was eroding.
Life is expensive, we all complain about inflation, and £ 631,000 for a summer hotel in Italy plus £ 180,000 airfare is really steep. In the face of such circumstances, Al Maktoum finally gave himself up.
Oil magnate Jean Paul Getty was particularly sensitive to the needs of ultra-high-net-worth individuals: “When you have no money, you always think of money. When you have money, you only think about money. “
I wish you an opulent day.
I warmly greet you
Her
Hans-Jürgen Jakobs
Senior editor
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