However, the federal states are looking increasingly impatiently at the disagreement in the federal government.
(Photo: Reuters)
Berlin Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has assured that the federal and state governments want to prepare well for a possible renewed deterioration in the corona situation in autumn. The summer will probably be perceived as a good improvement, said Scholz after consultations with the prime ministers of the federal states on Thursday in Berlin. But in autumn and winter there could possibly be different conditions.
“Therefore, the clear agreement is that we prepare for this moment,” said Scholz. “We now have summer tires on them, if I may choose that example. It’s about having the right winter tires ready when it matters. And if it’s going to be a very icy landscape, we might need more options to make safe progress then.”
The expert committee and crisis team would make suggestions, based on which one would closely coordinate the law. All options for action that would be needed should then also be available. Scholz did not want to anticipate the consultations, even when asked. He only emphasized that there should no longer be nationwide closures of childcare facilities and schools.
In a proposed resolution that is available to the Handelsblatt, it is said that it is assumed that the number of new infections will continue to decrease in the coming weeks. With reference to the expert council of the federal government, the draft decision states that “a sharp increase in Sars-CoV-2 infections and an increase in other serious respiratory diseases, such as flu infections caused by influenza viruses, can be expected again in autumn and winter.” .
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That is why, according to the draft, the federal and state governments want to prepare, among other things, a “comprehensive vaccination campaign” for autumn and winter, for example with low-threshold vaccination offers and vaccination centers on site. “Many citizens go into the autumn completely unprotected,” it says. In particular, the booster vaccination protects against a severe course of the disease. In Germany, almost 60 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.
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In addition, the Infection Protection Act should “create the legal basis for any necessary measures for autumn/winter in good time”. Concrete points are not mentioned in the draft – only that the federal and state governments will start consultations in good time. The current Infection Protection Act expires at the end of September. An extension or even tightening is controversial, especially for the FDP.
Traffic light debates the size of events and the obligation to wear masks
The traffic light coalition has been struggling for weeks to expand state protection requirements. At the annual meeting of the Association of Private Health Insurance, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) called for rapid implementation immediately before the federal-state meeting. Measures such as quantity limits at major events, the obligation to wear masks and access restrictions must be made possible in autumn and winter, he said in Berlin.
The FDP, on the other hand, insists on waiting for a planned scientific evaluation of previous corona measures before making a decision on the future course. “Because with a scientifically based assessment, we can prepare well for the coming autumn wave,” said the health policy spokesman for the FDP, Andrew Ullmann, the Handelsblatt.
However, the federal states are looking increasingly impatiently at the disagreement in the federal government. The calls for an early regulation are increasing from the ranks of the prime ministers.
The Saarland Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger (SPD) demanded that a new regulation should “not be made until the last moment again”. “We now have to examine the toolbox with which we can react to a possible worsening of the infection situation in autumn,” she told the editorial network Germany (RND).
The North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) also put pressure on: “It is important that the federal government, in coordination with the federal states, adapts the basics for the fight against the pandemic in good time before autumn,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group. One has to draw conclusions as to “which protective measures were successful and which promise to be successful in the future”.
With the amended Infection Protection Act, general mask requirements for events or when shopping, as well as 2G and 3G access regulations, have been abolished since the beginning of April. For the time being, “basic protection” applies – for example with mask requirements in buses, trains, clinics, practices and nursing homes.
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