VBefore the federal-state consultations on Wednesday, there are increasing demands for less strict measures as well as warnings of a third wave of the pandemic that may be fueled by this.
Several medical associations are warning against premature and uncoordinated loosening of the lockdown. “It would be wrong to just open some areas because people are tired of lockdown,” said the chairwoman of the Federal Association of German Medical Services, Ute Teichert, of the “Rheinische Post”. Openings should only be made in conjunction with a targeted testing and tracking strategy, she warned. “Under no circumstances should we roll out the red carpet for the virus.” The task now is to regain control of the infection process. “The virus is still faster than our measures at the moment, we are just reacting. That has to change. ”Teichert therefore called for more tests in schools, in companies“ and also at the hairdresser’s ”. In addition, much more must be tested for variants of the coronavirus in order to get a better overview of their spread.
The Marburger Bund argued similarly. “The openings should be made slowly and gradually. It is important to wait for the consequences before taking the next step, ”said chairwoman Susanne Johna to the newspapers of the Funke media group. The risk of a third wave of infections with highly contagious virus variants does not only affect older patients, “also younger ones, especially those at risk”. “We’re talking about a quarter of the population here,” she said. If the third wave hits them comparatively unchecked, the number of Covid 19 patients in intensive care units will inevitably rise again.
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However, considerations about regular corona tests for schoolchildren also meet with criticism from doctors. “In our opinion, the high number of false negative and false positive results to be expected would do far more damage than good,” said the president of the professional association of paediatricians, Thomas Fischbach, of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. There is “a considerable risk” that the hygiene measures will no longer be observed after negative test results, because the pupils are lulled into a false sense of security. “In view of the many false negative results, this could lead to more infections than if it were not tested; that would be devastating. ”On the other hand, children would have to be unnecessarily quarantined if the results were false. In a discussion paper that is available to the dpa, the Federal Ministry of Health considers one or two tests per week for schoolchildren to be sensible.
Laschet, Haseloff and the hospitality industry want to relax
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Armin Laschet advocated controlled opening steps without focusing on incidence values instead of a long lockdown. “Concentrated security now applies instead of permanent closure,” said Laschet to the editorial network in Germany. The social, economic and psychological damage of the pandemic would have to be carefully weighed. The CDU chairman calls for a cautious opening with a whole range of protective measures and the better use of digital possibilities.
Saxony-Anhalt’s Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) also campaigned for easing. “People are exhausted after the lockdown,” said the acting President of the Federal Council to the newspapers of the Funke media group. It must be prevented that “a lot of things migrate into the illegal area”. Otherwise the virus will spread even more. Haseloff cited sport as an example: “Instead of uncontrolled sporting meetings by groups, we can allow up to five people to play sport again if the clubs ensure that the hygiene rules are adhered to. What we are doing at the moment cannot stay that way forever. “
The German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga) also called for a move away from the exclusive focus on incidence values. There must be a balance between what is necessary in terms of health policy and what can still be expected of the economy, demanded Dehoga chief executive Ingrid Hartges in the “Tagesspiegel”. Before the federal-state consultations on Wednesday, she called for a “clear timetable with which restaurants and hotels can reopen before Easter”. The hospitality industry must be treated on an equal footing with other industries. “We are always the first and it cannot be that we are the last to be allowed to reopen,” she said.
Walter-Borjans criticizes Merkel’s crisis policy
SPD leader Norbert Walter-Borjans accuses CDU Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Union ministers in the Federal Cabinet for failure in the Corona crisis. “We have a head of government who is missing a lot in the coordination of this crisis,” criticized Walter-Borjans in a report by the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. Right now, particularly challenged leaders on the side of the coalition partner are not doing their job properly. Walter-Borjans announced a tough election campaign.
According to a Forsa survey, the satisfaction of Germans with the fight against the Corona crisis varies greatly in the federal states. The editorial network Germany published the survey results in a preliminary report. As a result, there is a high level of satisfaction among citizens in Bavaria and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In both countries, 72 percent of respondents said that the crisis had been “all in all” well managed so far. In Schleswig-Holstein it is 71 percent and in Hamburg 70 percent.
In Thuringia, on the other hand, 57 percent of those surveyed are not satisfied. The mood was also rather bad in Saxony, Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia. The representative survey was carried out in mid-February. The Forsa Institute interviewed a total of 7,980 Germans.
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