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This pandemic is also on the nerves of politicians, there is a tough fight in the Chancellery and in the state chancelleries with the video change, which also aggravated Germany for a longer time. Close until at least February 14 send.
There are always problems, especially when it comes to the question of when schools and daycare are so important to millions of parents and children. After several hours of discussion, the change was briefly interrupted due to the dispute over schools and daycare centers.
An example of the irritable mood is above all a dispute between the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Manuela Schwesig (SPD) and Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). Merkel has pushed for even fewer children to go to kindergarten and school, otherwise hair salons still won’t be able to open in April, the SPD said.
When later the Union initially slowed down when home office regulations were too strict, Schwesig said it was no longer possible to keep restricting children and holding them accountable for incidents, but in the world of work everything should remain pretty much as it is. Then Merkel responded moved: “I will not be hooked, that I torture children ”.
At least: Schwesig later told Merkel that it was time “for the restaurants to reopen and for us to have another wine to relax.”
Merkel looks upset
It was so common recently – the Chancellery wanted tougher lockdown measures, especially with regard to the possible spread of Britain’s most contagious Corona mutant.
Countries like Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, on the other hand, are seeing drastically declining numbers to less than 100 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days, making it difficult to take more precautionary measures, especially if it is not known how dangerous and spreading. it is actually the B117 mutation. is.
Furthermore, the pressure is not only growing from the FDP to first properly implement the applicable measures and provide a database of what actually worked.
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The so-called circle of four (Chancellor Merkel, Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Berlin Mayor Michael Müller, Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder) is having difficulty translating the different ideas into a coherent motion for a resolution.
The SPD side emphasizes the threats with a curfew in their proposed amendments, but also details: When it comes to the passage that the SARS-CoV2 virus B117 mutation “is spreading more among children and young people,” they want the added “be stronger” See removed, because that could further delay school and kit openings.
The negotiations now take more than six hours. The objective remains: Reduce the incidence of seven days below 50.
A summary of what has been decided so far:
The lockdown, which was previously limited to January 31, will run for two weeks until February 14 with further adjustments. Also the current regulations for schools and nurseries with emergency operation and the possibility of teaching final classes.
Until then, there should be a clearer picture of the spread of the virus mutation. Since this Tuesday, a regulation of the Minister of Health, Jens Spahn (CDU), with which thousands of follow-up tests of corona positive tests for the mutation must be carried out with immediate effect, each laboratory receives 220 euros per sequencing.
A working group at the level of the head of the Federal Chancellery and the heads of the state and senate chancelleries should also develop a “concept for an opening strategy” by mid-February.
It is also fixed: to the applicable Contact restrictions nothing should change. The same applies as before: private meetings with members of your own household and with another person not living in the household are still allowed.
It is mandatory to wear medical masks.
[Mehr zum Thema: Schutzwirkung, Preis, Zertifizierung – wie man gute FFP-2-Masken erkennt und was sie kosten]
Merkel and the country’s leaders also agreed on a Home office setting, “According to which employers must allow employees to work from home whenever possible, as long as activities allow.” So far it has stayed with the government’s appeals to companies.
Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) is planning an ordinance to force employers to offer office workers and similar home jobs if the incidence value of 50 infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days is exceeded at the place of operation.
Also, employers must provide their employees with medical masks if they still have to go to the office or factory, and there should be quicker tests for employees. If clearances cannot be maintained and adequate ventilation cannot be ensured, factory workers and factories should wear FFP2 masks. Working hours should also be straightened out. Here, however, we are not talking about an obligation, only a request.
I am traffic Increased frequency of buses and trains is intended to help reduce the number of passengers on transport by a third compared to the pre-Crown period.
Additionally, the group decided to toughen the mask requirement. There should be an obligation to wear “medical masks” on public transport and in stores, that is FFP2 or the cheapest surgical masks. The reason why there is no purely FFP2 obligation is also concern about bottlenecks and higher costs for citizens. Surgical masks, for example, do not adequately protect the user against aerosols; the air escapes unfiltered through the gaps because it is not as tight as the FFP2 masks that all heads of government wear.
For hours it was also about schools. According to information from Tagesspiegel, the Chancellery wanted it to be noted in the draft that schools, with a few exceptions, should remain closed in all areas, as well as kindergartens.
In some federal states there are still classes for the final classes. In a passage of the Chancellor’s draft resolution that was not accepted by the SPD, it was also stated, with a view to the continuation of the procedure, that nurseries should only reopen “if the incidence falls below an incidence of 50 days in 7 days”; to be taught in elementary schools in accordance with distance standards and to continue planning for distance learning into later years. ”
That was too difficult for most countries, many schoolchildren are already facing a lost year.
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Bundeswehr should help with rapid tests
The situation in the Nursing Homes and Retirement Homes a topic at the top. The incidence has recently declined among the very old, but not as dramatically as in other age groups. Staff in nursing homes and seniors should wear FFP2 masks when coming into contact with residents. And at least until vaccinations with both doses are completed, “rapid tests upon entering the facility are especially important,” emphasize the federal and state governments. Since many nursing homes complain of lack of staff for rapid tests, soldiers from the German Armed Forces should help.
No communication in case of curfew
A requirement for a CurfewFor example, as in Bavaria from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m., it was rejected by the SPD in particular before the summit and was also found in the Proposal for a summit resolution that is available to the Tagesspiegel, no longer after it was included in an earlier draft.
There it was pointed out in point 9 that the federal states are committed to aligning their measures in such a way that an incidence of less than 50 can be “predictably” achieved by mid-February. If this is not successful, the federal states should “establish a curfew” and / or the restriction of the circulation radius to 15 km around the place of residence “. And not as before from a 7-day incidence of 200, but also below.
Starting today, that would also affect Berlin. Above all, the federal states led by the SPD mobilized, in the proposed amendments point 9 was removed by the Berlin Senate Chancellery without replacement. Because that could mean curfews from mid-February for regions with low infection rates compared to Germany.
Anger over Merkel’s selection of scientists
Because the reserves are still very diffuse and there is no stable database for the spread of the much more contagious mutant of the British virus B117. There, an expert discussion was held before the decisions, among others with the head of RKI, Lothar Wieler, the virologist Christian Drosten and the traffic planner Kai Nagel of the TU Berlin.
Physicist Viola Priesemann from the Max Planck Institute was not invited again, last time calling for plans for a hard confinement, at least with a range of motion restriction to five kilometers for hotspots, which in the end became the now famous crown. 15 kilometers. -Rope. It was said that he treated the Prime Minister “partly like a kindergarten child”.
In regional circles, the unilateral selection of scientists was criticized, Merkel wanted to create a threatening backdrop. North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Armin Laschet’s think tank is also skeptical of the tightening.
The fact that Merkel wanted to prevent Klaus Ströhr from joining caused disgust among the representatives of the SPD countries. Stöhr is a German virologist and epidemiologist who previously worked for the WHO. He believes that the measures in Germany should be adapted but not drastically toughened, because the parameter should be the situation in Germany and not the development of a mutation of the virus not yet clear in other countries.
It was also clear that the situation was not comparable to that of Great Britain, where the mutation had already reached at least 10 percent of cases by late autumn. In Germany, the values assumed with caution are around 1 percent. Therefore, very hard blocking is not necessary, he said. The dilemma of the round: “Everything encounters a certain pandemic fatigue.”
But it is also clear to TU scientist Kai Nagel who was involved in the change: “Something has changed.” Although there is no clear picture of B117 due to lack of sequencing, Nagel has extrapolated with simulations if the virus is only one percent here. If it becomes generalized, it will be the dominant form in two to three months. Since it is much more contagious, 40 percent of the population would have to get vaccinated “just to get back to where we were last year.”
“People should be quiet”
Connected scientists advocate curfews. “Activity patterns show this to be beneficial, especially for less private visits at night,” says Nagel. Consider a 9pm to 5am lock as in Bavaria as a viable option. Bavaria shows that this reduces the numbers faster, for example, hospital patients in Munich. And what would be appropriate in terms of the risk of contagion from public transport?
Nagel’s surprising answer: “People should be quiet.” Basically the silent subway. No conversations, no phone calls, an impulsive vow of silence, for fewer sprays. Even the little things count in the big fight.
Note: this article will be continually updated.
