How traffic lights, federal and state governments want to realign the corona policy

“The most important thing is that the measures take effect as soon as possible,” said Ulf Dittmer, Director of Virology at the Essen University Hospital, the Handelsblatt. “It took far too long because of the political paralysis.” Among the most important measures, he counts contact restrictions for unvaccinated people, the 3G rule in the workplace and a quick booster vaccination. “Here we need additional structures and a significantly faster pace,” said Dittmar. But no one can know whether the measures will be sufficient.

The initial situation: the number of infections and vaccinations are increasing

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported another record for new infections on Wednesday with more than 52,000 new corona cases. On Wednesday a week ago there were just under 40,000. The seven-day incidence also rose to a record high, reaching 319.4.

The value indicates how many people per 100,000 inhabitants have been infected with the corona virus in the past seven days. The key benchmark for corona measures, the hospitalization rate, rose to 4.86 on Wednesday. The maximum value measured so far at 15 was measured last winter. The number of corona intensive care patients was given on Tuesday by the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (Divi) as 3266, and the trend is steadily increasing.

At the same time, the vaccination rate in Germany is increasing again. 436,000 people were vaccinated on Tuesday. According to the RKI, a total of 67.7 percent of the population are now fully vaccinated, 5.3 percent have already received the booster vaccination.

A trend reversal requires significantly more first and third vaccinations. The SPD health expert Sabine Dittmar said on Wednesday that more than 1.4 million people had to be vaccinated again every day. For comparison: At the heyday of the vaccination campaign in summer, vaccination centers and doctors together managed a million vaccinations a day.

The vaccination rate has to increase, boosters have to increase

The fact is: 30 million people must have received the third vaccination by the end of the year – assuming that the vaccination protection has to be refreshed after six months.

With a view to the urgently needed booster vaccinations, everyone would have to pull together, doctors in practices, company doctors, vaccination centers, but also mobile vaccination teams, says the SPD politician Dittmar. The number of practices that vaccinate has now risen to more than 50,000, she adds. The federal government wants to pay doctors more money for vaccinations against the corona virus in the future.

In the past few days there has been an increasing number of reports from those interested in a booster vaccination who have been sent away by doctors and vaccination centers or who have not been given an appointment in the coming weeks. The topic will therefore also be on the agenda at the federal-state summit on Thursday. It is disputed, for example, whether the vaccination centers will be necessary for this. Some federal states have restarted the facilities, others do not consider this to be necessary.

Under the pressure of the rising corona numbers, some federal states responded with stricter access rules before the summit on Thursday. In Baden-Württemberg only vaccinated and convalescent people (2G) have access to museums, restaurants and many events from this Wednesday.

Is the 2G regulation coming for all of Germany?

In Hamburg, unvaccinated people are no longer allowed to go to bars, restaurants and clubs from Saturday. Thuringia has decided to make 2G mandatory for large parts of public life. In Bavaria, Munich decided to cancel the Christmas market. And in North Rhine-Westphalia, the 2G obligation is to come across the board for adults in the leisure sector.

NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) also spoke out in favor of a 2G rule throughout Germany before the federal-state meeting. If the risk of infection is particularly high, there should even be a 2G rule with tests, said Wüst, who chairs the conference of prime ministers. At the meeting on Thursday, he wanted to advocate a coordinated approach by the federal and state governments. “Vaccinate, test and be careful – this is the attitude we will go into in the talks in Berlin,” said Wüst.

With a view to the different rules in the countries, the BDI even warned of a patchwork quilt. “It borders on a denial of reality that the federal and state governments make this mistake over and over again,” said association president Siegfried Russwurm on Wednesday. “The crisis round of the federal and state governments must agree on a nationwide step-by-step plan with clear measures, criteria and thresholds.” In corona policy, Germany does not need a creative race between the federal states, “but a nationwide coordinated, well-planned procedure that applies to companies and their employees everywhere remains understandable “.

The demand of the Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) for a brand from which hospital load additional measures must take effect goes in the same direction. Without a threshold, the agreed index for the number of corona patients admitted per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days would remain “a toothless tiger,” she said. But it would be “a disaster” not to act until the intensive care units are full.

According to the epidemiologist Rafael Mikolajczyk from the Halle University Hospital, the decisive factor is how the population deals with such measures. In addition to political decisions, the “citizens’ responsibility” is important so that contacts are reduced. “Testing is also very important when there is even slight suspicion of symptoms and mild symptoms of illness cannot be ignored,” he told the Handelsblatt.

The trade association HDE criticized the measures. “Politicians now have to sharpen the corona rules where it has been proven that there is an increased risk of infection,” said HDE Managing Director, “Stefan Genth the Handelsblatt. “That is not the case in retail, the hygiene concepts and the mask requirement work.” New access restrictions such as 2G or 3G would be completely inappropriate for retail. “Such a measure is not necessary for infection protection reasons and would cause serious damage in retail.”

In addition, the control would mean a lot of effort, especially in industries with high customer frequency such as food or clothing. “As a result, there would definitely be long queues in front of the doors of the shops, which should also be avoided urgently to protect against infection,” said Genth. “The point now has to be to take precisely tailored measures and not just bring out the old lockdown ideas from previous months.”

Opening clause for countries should come, harsher penalties for test and vaccination forgers planned

The traffic light does not want to allow the federal states to take a large part of tougher measures once the epidemic situation has expired. “What we no longer want are area-wide lockdowns,” said the FDP health politician Aschenberg-Dugnus on Wednesday. However, assembly bans or bans on religious gatherings should be excluded. It was already known that there would be no more extensive business and school closings.

Corona requirements in schools, yes – but a suspension of face-to-face teaching cannot be stipulated, is confirmed in the draft. However, closings in the areas of leisure, culture and sport should remain possible. This includes clubs as well as major events such as Christmas markets.

Anyone who falsifies corona tests, recovery or vaccination certificates must expect high fines according to the traffic light plans. In particularly serious cases of “unauthorized issuing of health certificates”, if “the perpetrator acts on a commercial basis or as a member of a gang”, imprisonment should be possible from three months to five years. To this end, the Criminal Code is to be amended accordingly.

In the federal states it is already done or is planned, now the regulation is to be introduced nationwide: Employees and visitors should only be allowed to enter clinics and care facilities with a daily negative corona test. According to the draft, vaccinated or recovered employees can test themselves daily without monitoring or submit a PCR test twice a week. The obligation to test should also apply in facilities for people with disabilities.

The traffic light advocates 3G in the workplace and on buses and trains

The grand coalition had rejected the plans, now they want to pick up the traffic light again: a 3G rule in means of transport, which is to be checked “randomly”. Carriers should be obliged to monitor this by means of appropriate verification checks. Passengers then have to present either proof of vaccination, recovery or testing.

Schoolchildren and transportation in taxis should be excluded. The obligation to wear an FFP2 mask or medical face mask should be stipulated. This does not apply to children under six years of age.

However, it is questionable whether the measure can be controlled. From the point of view of the rail union EVG, this is only possible with the help of the federal police. “Close agreements with the Federal Police are one of the prerequisites that must be met in order to enforce a possible 3G rule,” said Vice Chairman Martin Burkert. “An inevitable exclusion from driving must also be enforced. There must not be any further stress on our colleagues here. “

The planned nationwide 3G rule at the workplace is also becoming more specific: access to the workplace, if “physical contact” with others cannot be ruled out there, should be done without proof of vaccination, convalescence or daily test evidence (or a maximum of 48 hours old PCR Test) no longer give.

Home office duty should apply above all to office work

Employers should check this on a daily basis and record the results. Employees are obliged to submit appropriate evidence on request. Companies currently have to offer two tests per week. In addition, there has recently been at least one free citizen test again per week. With five working days, those who have not recovered or who have not been vaccinated must expect to have two tests per week at their own expense.

The planned obligation to work from home is based on the rules that were in effect until June of this year: Employees with “office work or comparable activities” must be able to work from home, unless this is not possible for operational reasons, for example because mail is being processed or goods or materials must be issued. Employees must accept the home office offer, unless work is not possible at home, for example because it is too tight or too loud or because the necessary equipment is missing.
With agency material.

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