The Federal Minister of Health has presented a corona protection plan.
(Photo: IMAGO/Political Moments)
Berlin After a video conference with his country colleagues, Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) made it clear that wearing masks indoors should be the rule in a “tense pandemic situation” in autumn and winter.
“It should only be possible to deviate from this in exceptional cases,” he said on Tuesday evening. This makes the emergency rule safer.
The new infection protection law planned by Lauterbach and Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) provides for a mask requirement in long-distance transport, on airplanes and in medical facilities. In addition, countries can extend the mask requirement to facilities such as shops and restaurants if the pandemic situation requires it.
There was criticism of the plan to exempt people from wearing masks in restaurants or at cultural and sporting events if their vaccination was not more than three months ago. There should also be exceptions for those who have been tested and those who have recently recovered.
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At the conference, the countries pointed out that these exceptions are difficult to control and implement in practice. At the same time, nationwide specifications are required for the indicators in order to be able to guarantee a uniform approach by the federal states with regard to further protective measures.
Bavaria demands changes
“I expect that Federal Health Minister Lauterbach will now adapt the law in the central points – also against possible resistance from the ranks of the FDP,” said Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) after the conference. “Because it is important that the federal government now sets a clear course and creates transparency and trust instead of continuing to unsettle people.”
Holetschek called on Lauterbach to remove the “questionable exceptions” to the mask requirement for newly vaccinated and recovered people from the law. A three-month vaccination interval contradicts the current recommendations of the Standing Vaccination Commission. The exceptions cannot be implemented in restaurants or at sporting events. Lauterbach had to change the draft in key points. “So far, the communication from the federal government has unfortunately been disastrous.”
There had been sharp criticism of the draft law from parts of the FDP. The exceptions for newly vaccinated people were understood there as a call to be vaccinated every three months.
Criticism of the FDP
“It makes me very doubtful about the ability of the FDP to govern when well-known party members publicly criticize the bill that their own Minister of Justice has sold as a big hit,” said Holetschek. “That also raises questions about the state of the coalition.” Lower Saxony’s Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) had also been critical of the draft law.
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The health policy spokesman for the FDP, Andrew Ullmann, expressed a lack of understanding. The conference of health ministers is “obviously still in spring 2020,” he told the Handelsblatt. Only a month ago she called for the instrument of school closures for the fall.
“We are giving countries the tools to fight the pandemic in a decentralized manner,” he said. The basic measures would be sufficient for this.
Restricting access based on a limited vaccination status, on the other hand, is an instrument that is difficult to bear. “Even the scientific evaluation report no longer considers this instrument suitable,” said Ullmann.
There is also encouragement for the draft law – also from the ranks of the federal states. The chairwoman of the conference of health ministers, Petra Grimm-Benne (SPD), said: “The proposal now presented is a good basis for the countries to be provided with a toolbox to be able to react to the pandemic in autumn.”
On the one hand, the nationwide measures such as the obligation to wear masks in air and long-distance traffic would provide guidelines for coping with the autumn wave. “At the same time, the federal states are given the power to order further protective measures.” At the same time, schools and daycare centers must remain open, according to Grimm-Benne.
More: Nothing more was to be expected from the new Infection Protection Act – one comment