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ANDThere are three more people than before: instead of two, the citizens of Saxony-Anhalt can meet with five people starting on Monday, even if they do not live in the same home. But although the meetings are still limited to small groups, the Prime Minister is clear that “we are taking an important step here,” as Reiner Haseloff (CDU) said on Saturday. In fact, it is a turning point: For the first time, a country is loosening strict contact restrictions that the federal government and all 16 countries have established to contain the crown pandemic.
At a press conference in Magdeburg, the leaders of the black-red-green state government explained why there should be five people in Saxony-Anhalt who can gather inside and outside at most. “The family, including the hotline down and up,” was said to be reunited, Haseloff explained, “meaning daughter or grandfather.” Health Minister Petra Grimm-Benne (SPD) said “visits from grandchildren to grandparents” should be possible again. But no more: “Multiple households cannot be together, otherwise it will be a party,” Haseloff said.
The fact is that Saxony-Anhalt is making progress to alleviate the situation. According to the decisions announced on Saturday, this also means that citizens no longer need a reason when they leave the house. All stores can be opened regardless of size, even those with an area of more than 800 square meters (a similar regulation applies as of Monday in Saarland). In Saxony-Anhalt, an appointment is also given for a possible opening of catering establishments: if the number of infections in the state does not increase again and restaurants can take various security measures, the state government wants to allow the opening from May 22.
The state government believes that such steps are also possible because the federal state is least affected by the pandemic: there are the fewest cases of infection per 100,000 inhabitants; A total of only 1,577 have been recorded so far, and since Easter the number of new cases has never been more than 20 per day. “The restrictions are subject to reasons,” said Sebastian Striegel, co-director of the Greens in Magdeburg, WELT. “If the pandemic with which the restrictions were justifiably justified now unfolds somewhat less dramatically in Saxony-Anhalt than before, then the restrictions must also be changed.”
Saxony-Anhalt is a pioneer in relaxation
Saxony-Anhalt was the first federal state to relax the contact restriction of two to five people due to the crown pandemic. The federal state is also a pioneer in other areas, and for a reason.
Source: WELT / Nicole Fuchs-Wiecha
Similarly, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania thinks the absolute number of infections is lower, 698, and the red-black state government has planned to gradually revive tourism for a week, but without specifying the date. In Saxony, which was not particularly affected, the Minister of the Economy, Martin Dulig (SPD), proposed over the weekend to allow the opening of the exterior areas of the restaurants from May 15 under strict conditions.
In this way, the East German states could become pioneers of relaxation, but with “there must always be the possibility of undoing them,” as Striegel says of the Greens in Saxony-Anhalt. This includes that these are always “very careful steps” and there must also be a “safety buffer”. This is also available in Saxony-Anhalt because “there are currently around 500 intensive care beds available in our country.”
If the current easing would lead to a further increase in the number of infections, “then the health system could also react,” said the member of the state parliament. But there is also a need for the state government to “collect more accurate data on when people become infected.” Only then can you tell precisely where restrictions are necessary and where it is possible to loosen.
It is controversial among federal politicians what to think of the special routes of individual countries in the east. They are backed by the vice president of the Union fraction Georg Nüßlein (CSU). “Since Saxony-Anhalt is less affected by the crown pandemic than other federal states, it is absolutely correct that there is now slow progress,” said Nüßlein WELT. This is “also sensitive from the point of view of the other states”, because in Saxony-Anhalt, due to its relatively good location, it is now possible to study without great risk how the individual reliefs actually work. “This helps other countries plan their own relaxation, which must now be considered intensively, because more and more it is realizing that we will no longer be able to maintain very strict restrictions.”
Federal Vice President Anke Rehlinger expressed something reserved for the SPD: “We don’t need a federal career, but synchronized swimming across the country,” said Saarland’s minister of labor and economy. Regional peculiarities would have to be “taken into account”, but then “be justifiable in terms of health policy.” She advocates uniform federal regulations that are regionally “scalable,” as, for example, if individual federal states can regulate differently how many square meters a customer must have in a store.
While Rehlinger did not directly respond to decisions in Saxony-Anhalt, Berlin Mayor Michael Müller (SPD) was upset about that. The other states and the federal government had not been informed in time about Magdeburg’s plans, Müller said in Deutschlandfunk. He criticized that Saxony-Anhalt had not mentioned any of the relaxation plans in a joint video conference on Thursday of last week.
Stephan Thomae, vice president of the FDP Bundestag faction, however, is open to different regulations. However, it criticizes the coordination processes between the federal and state governments. “Crisis management lacks a clear system of what measures should be better regulated across the country and where a regional cut would make more sense,” said Thomae WELT. In reality, “federalism could now demonstrate its strength if different management depended on the risk of infection in the respective district or region,” says Thomae. He called for greater consideration of the respective regional situation. “It doesn’t make sense if a master craftsman in Saxony-Anhalt is not allowed to open his business because there are high infection rates in Bavaria.”
Green parliamentary group leader Konstantin von Notz advocates for better deals between federal states: “With the current easing, which is also required by constitutional law, a more coherent and coherent approach among states is desirable,” von said. Notz. Rather than simply deciding on federal states, “a successful strategy against Covid-19 must be differentiated based on other criteria,” so regional differences must be taken into account.
It was necessary “to make the existing space for interpretation and criteria more transparent, for example, in the context of the permanent conference of interior ministers,” said von Notz. “If you give people the impression that government action is arbitrary and blatant, you lose acceptance of people whose trust and active help are essential to combat the pandemic.”
