Corona restrictions: Habeck presents opening plan tagesschau.de

Status: 02/12/2022 09:16 a.m

–
–
–

Cross-party politicians advocate defining corona opening steps. Economics Minister Habeck presented a phased concept before the forthcoming federal-state talks. Science urges caution.

According to the will of Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck, the first opening steps should be agreed during the upcoming federal-state consultations on the coronavirus pandemic. “According to the experts, the peak of the wave of infections is to be expected in mid-February,” Habeck told the dpa news agency.

A uniform approach would be important from the point of view of the Vice Chancellor. “We have to clarify what comes first, what the individual stages for an opening can look like and what are the nationwide criteria,” said Habeck. The economy and employees need planning security.

Habeck for gradual loosening

According to the ideas of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the easing should take place gradually and regionally differentiated. In addition, uniform target indicators and threshold values ​​are needed to indicate an impending overload of the health system – the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and the expert council should decide which these are. If a new virus variant threatens to overload the healthcare system, new restrictions should be able to be decided.

FFP2 replaces 2G-Plus

First, those measures that are associated with high economic costs should be relaxed. In place of 2G and 2G Plus regulations, there could be a nationwide obligation to wear FFP2 masks indoors. Limits on the number of visitors at outdoor events could also be relaxed in a first stage. In places like clubs, where many people come together indoors without distance and masks, test and vaccination certificates remain necessary.

In a second step, the ministry believes that the obligation to work from home, the obligation to test for employers and 3G obligations in the workplace should be discussed. In the case of close contacts, an FFP2 mask requirement can remain in place. In further steps, relaxation of participant restrictions at events and entry restrictions can be tackled.

SPD for easing from March

In the SPD states, a phased approach to corona easing is emerging as a position before the meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. In the “Rheinische Post”, the head of government of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer, initially mentioned contact restrictions for vaccinated people and the 2G-Plus rule in the catering trade.

Her Bremen colleague Andreas Bovenschulte called the quasi-end point in the “Welt am Sonntag”: “We should largely end the restrictions on social life caused by the pandemic by March 19th.”

According to the will of the FDP, the legal basis for the corona protection measures, which is limited until March 19, should then be completely eliminated.

Söder: “Team caution yes, but not team stubborn”

Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder called for comprehensive easing. In retail, an FFP2 obligation makes more sense than 2G. And in gastronomy, 2G is sufficient, 2G-Plus is not necessary, he told the “Rheinische Post”. Relaxation is also necessary in sport and culture.

Regarding major events, the CSU politician said: “My suggestion is 50 percent occupancy with a maximum limit in the football stadiums and 75 percent for culture.” He was out for a step-by-step approach: “However, the “Freedom Day” idea doesn’t work because Corona doesn’t stick to a date”.

Face-to-face teaching should be retained in schools, according to Söder. He advocated testing and wearing masks instead of distance learning or lifting compulsory attendance. “In general, the mask should be the last thing to keep – it is and remains the best protection,” he said.

KMK President for end of tests and masks in schools

The President of the Conference of Ministers of Education (KMK), Karin Prien, called for the corona measures in schools to be relaxed. “We have to get out of a culture of fear in the schools,” said the Schleswig-Holstein CDU Minister of Education of the “Bild” newspaper.

The President of the German Teachers’ Association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, had previously told the dpa that Omikron still had a firm grip on school operations. The number of infections should not be increased again by loosening the restrictions too early, thereby endangering the nationwide face-to-face teaching again.

Medicine and science for careful loosening

While medical experts believe it is reasonable to develop an opening plan, they urged caution. “In general, relaxing the 2G rules now would be risky because we still cannot estimate how this would affect the spread of omicrons and thus the delayed admission of unvaccinated infected and sick people to hospitals,” said epidemiologist Timo Ulrichs from the Akkon University for Human Sciences of the dpa.

The chairwoman of the Marburger Bund doctors’ union, Susanne Johna, also sees it this way: “Only when the omicron wave clearly falls should we think about concrete steps to lift measures,” she told the editorial network Germany.

“Carefully back to normal”

The Bonn virologist Hendrik Streeck had recently evaluated it somewhat differently and questioned the G-regulations: “We have to carefully return to normality. In my opinion, there should no longer be a difference between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated,” he told the “Münchner Merkur “. In his view, those who have been vaccinated twice transmit the virus like those who have not been vaccinated. With the booster, that will change somewhat, but only for a few months.

The immunologist Carsten Watzl pointed out that the 2G regulations are not so much about unvaccinated people generally becoming infected more quickly, but about the fact that they have a higher risk of becoming seriously ill. This is still the case with Omikron, even if the probability of a severe course is reduced compared to Delta.

The Expert Council member Christian Karagiannidis, who heads the DIVI intensive care register, warned the editorial network Germany: “It cannot yet be estimated with certainty whether there will be a heavy burden in the health system or not.”

Head of the Medical Association welcomes the debate

President of the German Medical Association Klaus Reinhardt considers opening considerations to be correct. “Due to the much easier course of the disease in the current Omicron variant, it is certainly appropriate to prepare for possible withdrawals of restrictive corona measures,” he told the “Rheinische Post”.

The deputy head of the association of doctors in the public health service, Elke Bruns-Philipps, warned against too risky a course with bad consequences. “Whether the measures should be extended or to what extent they should be continued must be decided on the basis of the pandemic situation in the first weeks of March,” said Bruns-Philipps of the Funke media group.