Federal Council approves the traffic light corona law

Berlin After a violent dispute between the traffic light parties and the Union, the Federal Council unanimously decided on Friday the new tool box against the fourth corona wave. The Union had originally indicated a blockade: Without the countries with the CDU and CSU in government, there would have been no majority in the Bundesrat. After a federal-state round on Thursday, however, a compromise was reached: It was agreed that the law introduced by the SPD, Greens and FDP should be evaluated within three weeks and, if necessary, improved.

In the decisive Federal Council meeting, the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wüst (CDU) said: “People rightly have no understanding of party political hiccups.” It was very important for him that the future Chancellor Olaf Scholz had agreed to the planned one The toolbox of the new law will be reviewed and changed no later than December 9th.

The amendment to the Infection Protection Act includes, among other things, 3G requirements in the workplace as well as in buses and trains. Proof of vaccination, recovery or negative test is required here. For nursing homes and clinics, test obligations are provided for employees and visitors. On the other hand, however, schools or shops should no longer be possible in the future.

The Union considers that to be risky. Wüst criticized the new “toolbox” restricting the countries’ possibilities too much. It could not be that the more extensive closure of the catering trade is no longer possible. In addition, the current legal basis for corona requirements, the “epidemic situation of national scope”, should not simply expire.

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This state of emergency has so far given the state governments the opportunity to take far-reaching steps by means of a simple ordinance. According to the will of the traffic light parliamentary groups, the state parliaments are to decide on restrictions in the leisure, cultural or sports sectors in the future. Stricter restrictions such as exit restrictions, general business or school closings and travel bans should be excluded.

Further restrictions for the unvaccinated

On Thursday evening, however, Wüst announced that NRW would approve the reform despite the concerns in the Federal Council. Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein had also indicated their approval, and in the end the states voted unanimously. “Vaccination is the way out of the pandemic,” said Wüst in the Federal Council, as did speakers before and after him.

Regardless of the vote in the Federal Council, there are other restrictions, especially for those who have not been vaccinated. Wherever a certain number of corona patients are admitted to hospital, they will not have access to leisure events, restaurants and hotels in the future. In these countries, 2G should apply, i.e. participation only for vaccinated and convalescent people – some federal states already have such rules.

The federal states also asked the federal government to introduce compulsory vaccinations in certain facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes for everyone who has contact with people who are particularly at risk. The controls of vaccination and test records are also to be tightened.

The President of the German District Association, Reinhard Sager, told the editorial network Germany (RND / Freitag) on ​​the subject of mandatory vaccinations for nursing staff and employees in nursing homes and other facilities: “This is a correct and necessary step that must be implemented under federal law as soon as possible.”

In order to get the spread of the virus under control, the federal and state governments have set new limit values ​​for restrictions. The decisive factor in future is the hospitalization rate. The value indicates how many people infected with corona per 100,000 people came to the hospital in the past seven days. If the rate is above three, 2G should apply. If it rises to more than six, vaccinated and convalescent people must also submit a test (2G plus) in certain facilities such as discos, clubs and bars. As of Thursday, this would affect Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Bavaria.

The federal government’s new corona strategy: this will apply in the future

The board of directors of the German Foundation for Patient Protection, Eugen Brysch, criticized that the hospitalization rate is neither a current figure nor does the value reflect the actual burden on the hospitals. A “Covid-19 radar” for the clinics, which takes daily parameters into account, is overdue.

This included people infected with corona, Covid 19 sufferers, corona deceased and the utilization of all wards.

The President of the German Medical Association, Klaus Reinhardt, told the newspapers of the Funke Mediengruppe (Friday) whether the planned measures were sufficient to get the corona situation under control, had to be seen. “It is important that by the agreed evaluation of the resolutions on December 9th, we collect data and knowledge about which measures are effective and where they need to be refined.”

More: Threshold values ​​for contact restrictions, compulsory vaccination for medical professions – the new measures at a glance

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