The legal basis for corona protection measures expires in September. If Health Minister Lauterbach has his way, quick preparations are needed now. But the SPD politician excludes some measures.
In view of the increasing number of infections, the calls for quick legal preparations for a corona autumn wave are getting louder. “Further corona precautions must now be worked out very quickly so that the proven measures can also be used in autumn and winter if necessary,” wrote Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens) on Saturday on Twitter. Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach had previously warned of a significant deterioration in the situation.
“We are facing heavy waves in autumn and winter,” said the SPD politician on Friday evening on ZDF’s “heute journal”. After submitting an expert report, Lauterbach promised to speed up the revision of the Infection Protection Act. In the spring, the provisions were severely reduced, and the current nationwide legal basis expires on September 23rd.
On Friday, a committee of experts presented a long-awaited report on the effectiveness of previous corona protection measures. Accordingly, protective measures such as wearing a mask can continue to be helpful against the corona virus. But behind many other known conditions, the experts put question marks, due to a lack of sufficient data, no reliable assessments are possible.
Lauterbach: Appraisals should not be “a brake pad”.
The report is important, but should not be “a brake pad”, Lauterbach wrote on Twitter. He ruled out a lockdown like at the beginning of the pandemic on ZDF: “We wouldn’t repeat that.” However, it could be that one or the other measure makes sense again. Lauterbach did not want to give details, referring to confidential negotiations with Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP). They had already started a one and a half hour conversation on Friday. “I think we’ll be quick,” emphasized Lauterbach. In the next few weeks, a good infection protection law will be prepared.
Lauterbach also criticized the abolition of the FFP2 mask requirement in local public transport in Bavaria. Only a medical mask has been mandatory on buses and trains there since Saturday. In view of the Corona summer wave, that was a clear mistake, according to Lauterbach on Twitter. “Relaxing in the wave seems illogical and discredits the simultaneous call for more measures by the federal government.” Bavaria’s head of department Klaus Holetschek (CSU) rejected the criticism: “Bavaria has held on to the FFP2 mask for the longest of all federal states,” he said. The expert report also confirmed that the correct fit is particularly important for the protective effect of a mask.
Dürr: When it comes to Corona, countries shouldn’t just call for the federal government
FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr accused the federal states of always calling for the federal government, but of doing too little to prevent themselves. “They often call for measures that restrict freedom, but don’t prepare themselves organizationally for the autumn/winter wave,” Dürr said on Deutschlandfunk. “First of all, I expect organizational preparation without any restrictions on freedom, and then we’ll see what else is necessary, what we still have to ask of the individual citizen.”
If the legal requirements for basic protective measures are extended, Dürr does not see any great time pressure, because that could happen very quickly. “The German Bundestag managed to pass such measures within a few days. So for a worst case (worst case), we are already prepared, even in the summer, if something were to happen. » However, he categorically ruled out certain measures: “The lockdowns, they cannot come back, the curfews, even school closures should no longer be an instrument that we use across the board.”
The number of infections has been rising again for some time, and the more contagious omicron subline BA.5 is already dominating the infection process. According to a survey, almost half of the people in Germany are in favor of stricter rules immediately. In a survey by the opinion research institute Civey on behalf of the “Augsburger Allgemeine” (Saturday), 49 percent answered in the affirmative whether the current corona measures should be tightened immediately. 43 percent were against, 8 percent undecided.
