It was heavy criticism that Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) had had to listen to in the past few days. It not only affected the new corona rules that Lauterbach had agreed with Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP). His communication style was also criticized: the opposition accused him of confusing the citizens.
On Friday, Lauterbach tried to explain his plans for autumn and winter and at the same time showed himself willing to talk. The focus was on the much-planned regulation according to which the mask requirement in restaurants, fitness studios or at cultural events should be omitted if a negative test result was presented or the last vaccination was not more than three months ago. “It’s not set in stone. But I think it can be implemented, ”said Lauterbach.
Next week, Lauterbach wants to sit down with the heads of the state chancellery of the federal states. Time is of the essence: the draft law should be in the cabinet by August 24, so that it can be passed in the Bundestag at the beginning of September. The new regulations should then come into force from October 1st.
Lauterbach emphasized that the three-month rule when vaccinating makes sense because, according to current estimates, the expected, adapted vaccines protect against infection for so long. However, this does not mean that everyone should be vaccinated every three months, because the protection against a serious illness lasts much longer.
Lauterbach also announced an innovation for the Corona warning app: It should light up green for newly vaccinated people, which makes the test easier. At the end of the three months she was blue again. If you then want to go to the restaurant without a mask, you can bring a daily test with you.
In general, the new rules provide for basic federal regulations on the one hand: an FFP2 mask requirement in long-distance and air traffic as well as a mask and test requirement in hospitals and nursing homes. In addition, from October 1st, the federal states have the option of imposing a mask requirement indoors. In addition, if the situation worsens, they should be able to introduce tougher measures such as compulsory masks outdoors at events or upper limits for people.
The federal states complain that there are no precise limit values for the introduction of these stricter measures, for example for incidences. They fear legal uncertainty. Lauterbach, in turn, encouraged the federal states to make proposals for threshold values. But he doesn’t think that makes sense. For example, the number of cases is not particularly meaningful if there is a “huge number of unreported cases”. For example, it could be cheaper to rely on waste water control or to take a look at the situation in the intensive care units. It is important to keep an eye on a large number of indicators and not just one or two.
However, Lauterbach does not fear a patchwork quilt. He assumes that the countries will make full use of the framework of the measures. Lauterbach rates the general corona situation in Germany as tense. The summer wave was broken. But there is no reason to give the all-clear in the pandemic. It is to be expected that the number of cases will rise sharply again in autumn.
According to Lauterbach, there is also good news. It can be assumed that adapted vaccines could be delivered as early as September. The federal government procured the vaccines “in sufficient quantities”. The vaccination campaign could then take place promptly.
