Coronavirus, Merkel’s defeat: “Forced to give up tighter restrictions”

SEDAN – The mountain gave birth to a mouse. Angela Merkel It suffers the hottest defeat since the start of the pandemic: after five hours of clashes with governors, little remains of the draft of new anti-Covid restrictions that the government had prepared. “I would have imagined imposing more restrictions on contacts, but there was not a majority of governors in favor of such a thing,” he admitted. From the meeting came a series of non-binding appeals to the Germans to keep meetings with other people as low as possible.

In the press conference after the video call, the chancellor stressed that “there is still no turning point” in the dynamics of the pandemic, “although we have broken the dynamics of infections.” And it is possible that new restrictive measures will emerge from the next meeting with the governors, scheduled for November 25, if the figures remain alarming. The chancellor recalled that the limit of 50 infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the last seven days “has to do with our health system,” that is, with its sustainability. And for the moment Germany “is far” from that value.

Merkel reiterated that “we must renounce any unnecessary contact” and said that private parties are prohibited, as well as the prohibition of meeting with more than one group of partners. The government has promised “to protect the weakest groups: they will receive FFP2 masks at reduced prices from December.”

At a press conference, the Chancellor reiterated that “she wanted to leave the schools and kindergartens open.” But just to avoid an explosion of infections in the classrooms, he had prepared a squeeze that was almost completely canceled. His intention to meet again with the prime ministers of the lands already next Monday 23 November has also been canceled. The new meeting will be on Wednesday 25.

The governors have made clear that they have also opposed the methodology, the government’s custom of preparing a draft before meeting with regional prime ministers. The mayor of Berlin (who earns the land), Michael mueller He specified at the press conference that “we must be able to discuss the measures.” And Merkel promised a preliminary confrontation with the governors before defining the new hardening: “we aim at a common draft with the governors.”

During the stormy meeting, the chancellor said she was unhappy with the rate of infections: “the numbers are stabilizing, but too slow.” However, essential steps have been removed from the government’s draft for a new anti-Covid squeeze, such as tightening restrictions on schools (a halving of classes and an extension of the obligation to wear masks to all schools). classes) or the prohibition for children. and teenagers to meet more than one friend.

The limit that Merkel has wanted to introduce has also been weakened so that all citizens know a maximum of two people, in addition to its nucleus of cohabitants: there are no sanctions for those who violate it. And what has been called the “cold quarantine” has been canceled: Merkel would have liked to introduce a quarantine of five or seven days now for those who have a cough or mild flu symptoms.

This morning, the president of the Koch Institute, Lothar wieler, had resorted to a fairly universal expression to convey the idea that winter will be hard: “you have to squeeze your glutes.” And he said that he was cautious about the slight flattening of the contagion curve that has occurred in recent days: “we do not know if it is a stable evolution.”

Above all, Wieler is concerned about a possible overload of the healthcare system: “half of the hospitals report limited availability” of beds. And the cases in intensive care are higher than in the acute phase of April. “It is possible that not all patients can receive adequate treatment.”