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Long before the decision is made on Tuesday, there are signs that the lockdown in Germany due to the corona pandemic will likely be extended. However, some countries want to enforce the exceptions.
A few days before the new talks between the federal state and the state, it all comes down to an extension of the blockade in Germany. However, it is not clear how long the restrictions will be extended and what will happen to schools and daycare centers. Here, after talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) on Tuesday, countries could take different lines. This is indicated after a change conference of the heads of the State Chancellery on Saturday.
Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) and Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left), whose countries are severely affected by the second wave of infections, demanded an extension of the blockade for three more weeks until the end of January. “A premature loosening would set us back a lot,” said Söder of “Bild am Sonntag”. It wasn’t until mid-January that we really learned how Christmas and New Year’s Eve would have affected the number of infections. “We have to be consistent and not give up too soon.”
Ramelow calls for restriction of range of motion
Ramelow even wants to tighten the blockade in Thuringia in view of the high levels of infection. He had proposed to the cabinet to limit people’s range of movement to 15 kilometers around their place of residence, he said on Sunday. The cabinet wants to decide on Tuesday after the federal-state talks. Ramelow also reacted to the rush to winter sports areas in the Thuringian Forest.
Other federal states severely affected by Corona also asked in the teleconference for an extension until the end of the month, while the least affected countries were ready to make a new decision after just two weeks. Also leaving are the heads of government of Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse, Peter Tschentscher (SPD), Stephan Weil (SPD), Reiner Haseloff (CDU), Malu Dreyer (SPD) and Volker Bouffier ( CDU) from the fact that the strict rules must continue to apply. In interviews, however, he did not mention a time lapse.
Söder warns against hasty opening of schools and kindergartens
Tschentscher also wants to discuss the schools currently closed. This topic is particularly contentious. The mayor of Hamburg told “Welt am Sonntag” that he awaited information from the federal government “on what scientific basis or database he is calling for a greater general closure of kindergartens and schools and how he anticipates essential functions of basic care and capacities of medical treatment”. must be maintained. “
The culture ministers of the federal states are already discussing the situation on Monday, one day before the prime minister. Above all, they consider the early opening of kindergartens and primary schools a priority. Söder, for his part, warned against a “hasty opening of schools and nurseries.” “In view of the high number of infections, it would be irresponsible to simply send teachers and students back to school altogether,” he said.
No agreement on the school issue
The risk of infection is high, especially after the holidays. Ramelow said that in Thuringia, a limited regular operation of schools and kindergartens was not planned again until February 1. Only students in years where degrees are pending, as well as their teachers with negative corona tests, should be able to return to schools in January.
In the teleconference, countries with a high number of cases asked to keep schools closed for the time being, and countries with a lower number to open schools earlier with alternative or distance education in the upper classes. Some countries also suggested bringing forward the winter holidays, which in some countries begin between February 1 and 15.
“I’m not entirely sure it will end then”
The president of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, called for an extension of the closure. The federal and state governments should add a full four weeks, he told the “Rheinische Post.” That would mean a lockdown for February 2. “And I’m not entirely sure that’s the end of it,” Montgomery said.
The president of the association also defended the action of the federal government and the EU when ordering the vaccines. “No one knew which vaccine would cross the approval line first,” he said. All the accusations are now “the cheap attempt to get political honey out of the vaccine shortage.”
The astrazeneca vaccine is currently under review by the EU
Leading opposition politicians and the SPD had criticized that the German government, with the EU, had paid too little attention to the procurement of vaccines. The SPD, in particular, also attacked the Minister of Health, Jens Spahn (CDU). He defended himself: “We have ordered enough vaccines for Germany and the EU,” he told the “Rheinische Post”. “The problem is not the quantity ordered. The problem is the low production capacity at the beginning, with extremely high demand around the world.”
The Health Minister is confident of the swift approval of the vaccine by the British-Swedish group Astrazeneca, but does not point to a solo German effort. The vaccine, which is already approved in the UK, is currently under review by European regulatory authorities. In studies, the agent had shown less effectiveness than Biontech’s vaccine, but it can be stored with less effort and is significantly cheaper.
“Knowing everything does not help us today”
When it comes to the speed of vaccines, Spahn also holds the federal states responsible. “It was a very deliberate decision by the federal states that there is no uniform national approach, but this different approach,” he said. “Now this decision must be implemented in the best possible way together.”
Brandenburg Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) warned against cheap criticism of the vaccine order. “Knowing everything does not help us today,” he told the publishing network in Germany. However, Söder attacked the EU Commission, which was responsible for acquisitions across Europe. He asked for very little and trusted the wrong manufacturers. “It is difficult to explain that a very good vaccine is developed in Germany, but vaccinated more quickly elsewhere,” he said, referring to the Mainz company Biontech.
