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Christian Lindner has invited the Reichstag on short notice, he wants to get rid of something. “Parliament has to decide on broad restrictions on freedom,” emphasizes FDP leader Christian Lindner. If there is a new risk from the more contagious B117 variant of the mutated virus, then this should be presented in parliament. Calls for a special session of the Bundestag before the federal-state meeting on Tuesday. But that will pass, the Foreign Ministry has been working for a long time on the proposed resolution for new restrictions.
Nighttime curfews are no longer taboo, they say. So, however, there could be more citizens in the supermarkets during the day and the risk of infection there could increase. Local public transport is also seen as a major contagion risk: Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) wants to reduce the amount of occupied spaces on buses and trains, but that would have to be controlled in some way.
There is already a lack of rules, but of compliance and control. In Berlin, for example, maskless subway rides, crowds in front of newsstands, and private parties prove it. Therefore, the head of the FDP, Lindner, demands a concrete database of how the measures have worked so far before making new decisions.
However, there is little reliable data on public transport, for example. What’s emerging: Christmas and New Year’s Eve couldn’t have caused the much-dreaded eruption. RKI chief Lothar Wieler will present the latest figures to the chancellor and prime minister on Monday.
A week ago, the number of new infections was 162 for every 100,000 inhabitants in seven days, the weekend according to the RKI was 139; the figures compiled by the daily mirror differ from this due to the time changes in the reports to the RKI, but show a similar trend. The still high numbers of cases nationwide “are caused by mostly diffuse events with numerous accumulations, especially in homes, in the professional environment and in homes for the elderly and the elderly,” emphasizes the Robert Koch Institute in the report of current management.
The number of Covid-19 patients treated in intensive care units has now dropped to less than 5,000. So the tightening of the closure before Christmas could start to work now. The mutation of the virus makes the situation unsafe: in London, the numbers have risen to more than 1,000 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days. The data shows that it first spread to children and then to older age groups, which speaks in favor of stricter daycare and school closings. These could therefore continue to exist in Germany or be standardized or reinforced.
The problem B.1.1.7
It is largely unclear how widespread the mutation is in Germany, because very few samples are genetically examined in detail in the way necessary to do so. Berlin mobility researcher, and meanwhile also an expert on the spread of the coronavirus, Kai Nagel deduces from his latest model that the mutant will also become the dominant form in Germany for the foreseeable future under current conditions.
This would mean that the experience on what measures should be sufficient to contain infections and diseases would be at least partially out of date. A large number of unreported cases of previous infections would even be useful here, as the corresponding people are “probably also immune to the mutation,” Nagel told Tagesspiegel.
There is also the possibility that, also due to the lack of detailed genetic tracking, other mutants have already spread. However, they could also include those that trigger fewer symptoms on average. This could lead to fewer tests on infected people and then more unreported cases.
Ideally, however, it could also mean that one variant spreads and also contributes to immunity against other variants, which are significantly less troublesome overall. The mutant first identified in South Africa, which may have properties that make vaccines less effective, could lead to changes in strategy in the medium term and the need to adapt the vaccine to them and to expect similar variants.
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RKI chief Wieler continues to take on a large number of unreported cases, recently there were four to five times the number of officially registered cases. At present, only the number of deceased and hospitalized patients treated in the hospital provides any real guidance. Due to the lack of ability to trace contacts, there is hardly any data on where they were infected, even for those infected who are identified by testing.
Local public transportation and private contacts are still seen as problematic when schools are mostly closed. Experts also consider that family quarantines, which end with the recovery of the sick relative, are a problem. Because family members who become infected with it should remain isolated for much longer, which usually does not happen.
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It is considered plausible to change the mask requirements for indoor spaces and public transportation to FFP-2 masks instead of everyday wear masks. That, too, will be a topic Tuesday: whether the money will be used again to enforce an FFP2 mask requirement nationwide with state funding. There is also a broad political consensus not to restrict business and industry.
The obligation to work from home would be complicated because legal regulation cannot be created overnight. Many people have a roof over their head at home, so they return to the office on their own initiative. The retail sector is also looking for ways to reach its customers: collection options are expanding more and more, the industry is urgently seeking relief.
74 billion paid
At the same time, the ministries of economy and finance are fighting for billions in aid; So far, 74 billion euros have been disbursed since March, and there will be many more. While Friedrich Merz asked the new CDU leader, Armin Laschet and Merkel, to be allowed to replace his party colleague Peter Altmaier after his failure in the election of the CDU presidency, additional 24-hour shifts are pressed in your ministry.
There are still problems with the disbursement of financial aid, and there are also bureaucratic obstacles: the EU Commission, which has to approve aid of more than one million euros, is holding back too much from the perspective of the Federal Government.
For the retail sector, work is underway to expand assistance and reduce the bureaucracy of applications for bridge aid III. Since many seasonal products have to be written off and clothing companies are left doing nothing, there is a debate on the so-called partial depreciation: costs: between one and three billion euros. “Olaf Scholz is blocking that,” the Altmaier house was criticized. In the Ministry of Finance they say they are working on a legally secure solution.
The biggest political problem in this very complex situation: against the spread of viruses, and also their mutated variants, in addition to limiting the economic damage, the least bureaucratic solutions possible help the fastest and therefore the best. The Ministry of Economy is astonished that, for example, the Bundesdruckerei has been commissioned to print counterfeit-proof coupons so that they can be mailed via health insurance to people over 60 years of age who, when presented at the Pharmacies after paying a small nominal fee, finally receive twelve FFP2- Get masks.
