Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), for example, considers it “grossly negligent if the federal government hands over effective instruments for emergencies without need”. His Lower Saxony colleague Stephan Weil (SPD) had said: “You don’t throw away the fire extinguisher if it’s still burning.” Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) had also expressed his criticism.
According to the plans of the traffic light government, mask requirements in nursing homes, clinics and local public transport as well as testing requirements in nursing homes and schools should still be possible. The mask requirement on long-distance trains and planes should also remain nationwide.
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If the corona situation worsens on site, it should be possible to impose some stricter conditions at so-called hotspots: mask requirements, distance requirements, hygiene concepts as well as vaccination, convalescence or test certificates (3G/2G/2G plus) – but only if the respective state parliament dealt with it.
Experts consider the easing to be possible in principle, despite the sharp rise in the number of cases, because infection with the currently dominant omicron variant is milder and there is no risk of overload in the hospitals. “From this point of view, the targeted easing is justifiable if you do not see this as the end of the pandemic, but as the beginning of greater personal responsibility,” says Markus Scholz, epidemiologist at the University of Leipzig, the Handelsblatt.
Traffic light government presents new draft for infection protection law
However, he advises continuing to wear a mask in crowded indoor spaces. It is therefore particularly critical that the mask requirement in schools is no longer applicable, since personal responsibility does not apply here. “This forces you to more or less all children and young people get infected,” said Scholz. “Entries in the respective families are then also hardly avoidable.” The President of the Conference of Ministers of Education, Karin Prien (CDU), had also spoken out against a rapid abolition of the mask requirement in schools.
Criticism of the omission of masks in schools and shops
The omission of the mask requirement indoors, for example in retail, in restaurants and bars, also causes criticism. Ulf Dittmer, Director of the Institute for Virology at the University of Essen, tells the Handelsblatt that it can only be avoided when the number of infections is significantly lower. Immunocompromised people and the elderly who are not fully vaccinated are still at risk. “If the measures are dropped, we have to keep thinking about protecting these people,” he said.
The Greens health expert Janosch Dahmen even spoke of “refusal of reality” that endangers human life. A stronger basic protection is necessary. “For example, masks should remain indoors for the time being.” In view of the criticism, it is quite possible that this rule will be included in the law. SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich promised “clarifications”. “We struggled a lot, especially with the FDP, to submit another bill again,” he said on Thursday.
Pressure is also coming from the opposition, which is calling for the hotspot threshold to be precisely defined. “The minimum compromise of the traffic light leaves all questions unanswered,” said the Union’s health policy spokesman, Tino Sorge (CDU), the Handelsblatt. The traffic light does not want to clearly define when exactly a dynamic infection situation or a clinic overload is imminent.
Lauterbach warns of up to 300 deaths per day
“The fact that the federal states are now criticizing all party lines must be taken seriously by the traffic light.” In general, however, openings are now not only “possible, but also necessary”. Easing would lead to new infections and new deaths. “As long as our health system is not threatened with overload, we must allow normality.”
In fact, experts assume that the number of infections will continue to rise for a while. The main reason for this is the spread of the probably even more contagious omicron subtype BA.2 in combination with the loosening, says epidemiologist Scholz. In addition, multiple infections with omicron are also possible. “Due to the seasonal effect, the number of cases can be expected to fall again soon as temperatures rise,” he says.
One reason is the continued low vaccination rate compared to other countries. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) said on Thursday that the gap was so large “that without a significant improvement in the willingness to vaccinate and the vaccination rates in the fall, we will have significant problems again.” This is also shown by the Omicron wave, which is now growing again. If left unchecked, there would be 200 to 300 deaths every day for many weeks. “We can’t put up with that.”
More: Which measures will apply from March 20th: Traffic light presents draft for corona rules