(Photo: IMAGO/Christian Spicker)
Actually, Germany could look forward to the Corona autumn in a relaxed manner. Most are vaccinated, the majority even a third time. Many have gone through an infection. And the vaccine supplies are full – for example in the event that a booster vaccination for the cold season is necessary.
Even more: We now know that the virus can trigger new waves through mutations and how we as politicians and society have to deal with it – with personal responsibility, but if necessary also with measures by the state. The country went through two long winters of corona waves, it really can’t get any worse.
But the traffic light coalition is anything but relaxed. She is stuck in an annoying, recurring trench warfare for the right Corona course. She is not fighting against the pandemic, but with herself. The dispute over the Infection Protection Act was less than four months ago when it returned to the political agenda.
In the spring, one already had the impression that government couldn’t be more unprofessional. The hotspot rule, for example, was so incomprehensible that Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) and Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) had diametrically opposed understandings of it.
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Lauterbach saw it as an opportunity to continue to enable stricter measures across the country. Buschmann, on the other hand, wanted to use her to prevent stricter rules. What the example makes clear: Here it was no longer about a consistent corona policy that the population can understand, but about pacifying a coalition that was at odds on the matter. https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/deutschland/pandemie -corona-expertenrat-holds-a-considerable-burden-of-the-health-system-from-autumn-probable/28407986.html
deep ditches
If at least the deep rifts had been overcome and a real truce had emerged from it, then the quarrel would have been good for something. But that didn’t happen. The result is that the tugging and choking is now actually being repeated. The traffic light is in a dysfunctional relationship when it comes to Corona. She keeps making the same mistakes without learning from them.
The team of SPD, Greens and FDP are again arguing about the Infection Protection Act, and again there is no agreement in sight. The SPD and the Greens would prefer to tie down stricter state protective measures for the fall yesterday rather than today. The FDP, on the other hand, wants to wait for the evaluation of the corona measures and the summer break to define measures in September.
But the core of the matter is again that some people want more, others fewer measures. It’s the old fights. How does the government intend to get as many people as possible behind its course? Broad support is the basis for a successful pandemic course. But that is not in sight. This is the real danger for autumn.
More: Corona expert council considers “considerable burden on the health system” to be likely from autumn