Stuttgart. The Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Integration discussed the upcoming course in the fight against the corona pandemic in its special meeting on Monday, August 9th. The unscheduled meeting took place one day before the conference of the prime ministers with Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel on the future anti-corona strategy. The parliamentary groups of SPD and FDP / DVP had requested the public special session, which was broadcast via live stream. Because of the parliamentary break, many committee members took part in hybrid form.
The committee chairman Florian Wahl (SPD) emphasized that in view of the decisions to be expected at the conference on Tuesday, it was necessary to inform the state parliament early on and to involve it. After all, it is a matter of resolutions that would also have significant effects on the citizens of Baden-Württemberg. As an example, Wahl cited the further handling of the incidence value and possible alternatives when assessing the pandemic situation, which is expected to worsen again in the coming autumn. In addition, decisions regarding the already different regulations for vaccinated and recovered as well as tested people are to be expected.
According to Wahl, the SPD criticized the latest statements from the state government at the special session on a possible realignment of the anti-corona strategy. In particular, Minister of Social Affairs Manfred Lucha (Greens) recently submitted a whole series of proposals that had given the impression that they had not been voted on within the state government or within the Greens. Lucha’s proposals for a federal health office and for a central vaccination authority at federal level were named as examples. “What’s the matter with Lucha?” The Social Democrats would have asked.
According to the election, the SPD also responded with incomprehension to Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann’s suggestion that there should no longer be any free tests for non-vaccinated people in the future. It is confusing when the Green Bundestag leader Robert Habeck declares the opposite on the same day. Such contradictions are not suitable for strengthening people’s trust in the anti-corona measures, according to Wahls from the SPD.
According to the chairman of the committee, the FDP / DVP joined the SPD. The state government apparently does not go into the conference with the other state heads of government and the Chancellor on Tuesday with a clear line. Like the SPD, the Liberals voted in favor of not basing future measures solely on the seven-day incidence, but instead taking greater account of the hospitalization index, which takes into account the occupancy of the clinics. In addition, according to Wahl, the liberals called for everything to be done to ensure that the schools can remain open in the coming autumn.
In the special session, Social Affairs Minister Lucha rejected allegations that the state government did not speak with one voice. They have coordinated intensively. The government has the clear goal of taking a new perspective when looking at the pandemic. It is no longer justifiable to just look at the number of infections. In the future, the occupancy rate, especially of the intensive care beds, will have to be taken more into account. According to Wahl, the CDU agreed to this in the special session.
“By September 15, all citizens of Baden-Württemberg who can be vaccinated should have received a vaccination offer. After that there should be a paradigm shift in the fight against the corona pandemic, “said Lucha, alluding to the move away from the incidence value that he called for. From September 15, he is convinced that it will no longer be justifiable to withhold civil liberties from fully vaccinated people.
Lucha also spoke about schools. He advocates keeping schools open. If there is a corona case, only the affected student should have to go into quarantine, said the minister. All other class members should then be tested daily.
According to the chairman of the committee, Florian Wahl, the AfD expressed the fear that a “mandatory vaccination through the back door” was being prepared. Any unequal treatment of those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered on the one hand and those who have not been vaccinated on the other is a violation of the Basic Law.
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