It can be heard from the Ministry of Health that Karl Lauterbach is fundamentally behind the reduction of the convalescent status. It goes back to a recommendation from the Robert Koch Institute.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin, Brussels Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) is still under pressure because of the shortened duration of the recovered status. Since mid-January, those who have recovered have only been treated the same as those who have been vaccinated for three months. Previously, this period was six months.
On Tuesday, however, the EU states agreed again on a validity of six months with regard to border crossings. The Brussels recommendation is not legally binding. In the past, such agreements were not always followed 100 percent by the member states, including Germany.
The government does not want to stick to the new recommendation for the time being. “After entry, national law applies,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Health. “This also applies to all rules regarding the recovered status.”
From the ranks of the prime ministers, however, there is pressure on Lauterbach to reverse the recent reduction. “This national solo effort is highly contradictory and creates uncertainty,” wrote Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) on Twitter.
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The health policy spokesman for the Union faction, Tino Sorge (CDU), told the “Bild”: “Minister Lauterbach will have to explain to the public why Germany is going its own way. Going it alone as a country in the middle of Europe would be questionable.” The government will have to reassess whether “the reduction overnight” was the right decision.
The recommendation comes from the RKI
From the ministry it can be heard that Lauterbach is fundamentally behind the shortening. It goes back to a recommendation from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). Although Lauterbach was surprised by this, he has no doubts about the expertise of the institute.
On Wednesday evening, Lauterbach said on ZDF that he would also try to implement the three-Monday deadline at European level. “We will soon try again to implement the three months at European level,” said the SPD politician on Wednesday evening in the “heute journal”. “After three months, someone who was already infected with the delta variant can become infected again with the omicron variant. So the three months are scientifically correct,” emphasized Lauterbach.
Country leaders feel left out
The procedure had also caused displeasure among the country heads at the Prime Ministers’ Conference on Monday. They felt left out. It is said that such decisions should be better communicated in the future. A ministry spokesman assured that there were no instructions from the Ministry of Health to shorten the recovered status.
“The minister was not informed that the status of those who had recovered would generally be changed on Saturday.” and implemented it.”
The background to the EU decision is that the member states will in future base their entry restrictions less on the number of cases and more on a person’s vaccination or recovery status.
A corresponding regulation was approved by the member states on Tuesday. So far, the states are based on the map of the European Center of Disease Control (ECDC). There, regions are colored green, yellow, red, or dark red, which helps states enact entry restrictions.
The concept is now considered obsolete. In the future, the decisive factor should be how long ago a vaccination or an infection was. Proof of recovery should therefore be valid for up to 180 days after infection.
In Germany, proof of recovery is only valid for up to 90 days after infection. But that does not contradict the EU decision, according to Brussels. Because: The EU recommendation does not apply to areas that are called “high-risk areas” in Germany. The rules of the German entry regulation, in turn, relate exclusively to these high-risk areas.
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