Head of the Chancellery Braun accuses Prime Minister of a lack of consistency
Chancellery chief Helge Braun (CDU) has accused the heads of government of the federal states of lacking a clear line in the fight against the corona pandemic. “We would have liked more consistency from the Prime Minister’s Conference,” said Braun to the “Spiegel”. In particular, he again insisted on the waiver of classroom teaching in schools, which some countries reject or do not fully implement.
It is wise “to forego face-to-face classes if we want to reduce the numbers quickly and not give the mutant a chance,” said Braun, referring to the new, more contagious variants of the coronavirus. “The big question is: are we fast enough before the mutant virus becomes dominant like in the UK?” Warned Braun to adhere to strict protective measures, including in schools.
“Our consideration is: If we keep the incidence below 50, then we can switch to reliable alternating lessons with sufficient distance,” said Braun. He is convinced: “If we consistently reduce the numbers over a reasonable period of time with such high numbers of infections, we will find ourselves in a situation much earlier in which schools can be reliably reopened without entire classes having to be quarantined every few days.”
In the UK, studies showed that the mutated virus had spread widely among children and adolescents. In Germany it is now crucial for further development whether the virus mutants “gain the upper hand or not”. If containment does not succeed here and protective measures are not implemented consistently, “then we will have to limit ourselves massively until enough people have been vaccinated,” warned the head of the Chancellery.
Braun also opposed attempts by some scientists and politicians to focus on the protection of particularly vulnerable groups instead of the strict lockdown. “Protecting all of these people perfectly is simply not realistic,” he said. In Germany alone, around 30 million people belonged to the vulnerable group to whom FFP2 masks are currently being issued, he said.
Braun expressed confidence with a view to an end to the corona crisis in Germany: “Spring makes it easier for us, and more and more vaccinations are being added. We could go back to our normal lives in summer.” Even beforehand, “we could gradually loosen the restrictions”, provided that it was possible to achieve very good control over the infection process. (AFP)
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