Germany is in the middle of the Corona summer wave, in autumn the number of infections will probably continue to rise. Right now the Bundestag is taking its summer break. Exactly how we intend to keep the pandemic at bay during the cold months is unclear.
Germany is ailing. And that in summer. In recent years, the corona numbers have actually always been at a low level during this time. Data and assessments by doctors and pharmacists show that there are an unusual number of respiratory infections for this time of year.
A development that could continue in the autumn. Experts like the virologist Christian Drosten predicted an increase in the number of infections weeks ago. “The wheel is turning more in the direction of illness again,” he explained in an interview with “Spiegel”.
So is it time to tighten the corona rules again? The Bundestag, which decides on this question, has said goodbye to the summer break. There is already a first draft law on how to deal with the pandemic in the cold months, which includes, among other things, a vaccination campaign for people over 60 years of age.
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What Germany is doing specifically against the impending autumn wave will only be decided by the MPs after the summer break. Everything looks as if the necessary changes to the Infection Protection Act will only be decided shortly before the due date – i.e. September 23rd.
If no new version of the law is passed by then, for example, the mask requirement on public transport and the possibility of imposing G regulations in hotspot regions will no longer apply.
“I’m worried and stunned,” writes Kathrin Vogler, spokeswoman for health policy for the left parliamentary group, when asked by FOCUS Online. “We are flying blindly towards autumn and the federal government is just letting the third summer of the pandemic pass without using the time sufficiently to prepare the country for the expected increase in incidence.”
Tino Sorge, the health policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, also urges more speed when it comes to corona preparations. “It is high time that the traffic light agreed on specific measures that are laid down in the Infection Protection Act,” he says in an interview with FOCUS Online.
It is also clear to the governing parties that Germany must prepare for the Corona autumn. “We don’t know whether there might be other variants in addition to more infections in the cold season. That’s why we have to be prepared and make the instruments available in a legally secure manner,” says SPD health politician Heike Baehrens.
She points to the 7-point plan that Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) presented a few weeks ago. “We are now introducing the measures contained therein through legislation.” Above all, Baehrens considers the possibility of being able to order a mask requirement in local transport, at major events or in narrow interior spaces to be central. That sounds good – if the Bundestag weren’t in the summer break for the next two months.
“We have to prepare our health system well,” explains Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus, the health policy spokeswoman for the FDP parliamentary group. She even goes into detail about which measures are important in the eyes of the FDP.
She is not only in favor of intensifying wastewater monitoring in order to be able to better assess the infection process. She also writes: “With a comprehensive care and hygiene concept, we protect the vulnerable groups in a special way.” However, it remains unclear what exactly the “comprehensive hygiene concept” looks like.
As expected, there is nothing in the statement about a mask requirement, participant limits at events or similar measures. In the past, the FDP had repeatedly spoken out against harsh restrictions.
It is precisely this attitude that could cause problems in the traffic light coalition. “If it were up to the FDP alone, the pandemic would hardly be relevant,” says left spokeswoman Vogler. The fact that Lauterbach had to “negotiate individually” every aspect of the new infection protection law only shows how short-sighted the “laissez-faire policy of the FDP” is.
FDP woman Aschenberg-Dugnus sees things differently. “First, the state always has to justify its actions to the citizens. Second, it is the duty of the state to always uphold the fundamental principle of proportionality.”
After all, the FDP is not fundamentally against corona measures – but they have to be proportionate and effective. That’s why the party wanted to wait for a report from the Federal Government’s Corona Expert Council, which appeared in early July and is not as meaningful as many had hoped.
Because the scientists assessed the wearing of masks or access restrictions such as 2G and 3G positively. However, they were sometimes unable to assess the effectiveness of certain measures such as school closures. On the one hand, because various measures overlapped, on the other hand, because important data was missing.
“These data must be collected immediately,” complained Martin Sichert, spokesman for health policy for the AfD parliamentary group, to FOCUS Online. Without them, there should be no measures, because “if it is not known whether measures protect more or do more damage, it is not possible to weigh up the proportionality”.
The left is also upset about the data problem. According to Vogler, information on “almost all aspects of the pandemic” is missing. But she also says: “The lack of data must not be the argument to question vaccinations, comprehensive tests, wearing masks or the duration of the quarantine.”
FDP Ms. Aschenberg-Dugnus and SPD deputy Baehrens agree on this point. Both think that the situation in Germany urgently needs to improve. First measures are apparently planned. “The draft law introduced in the last week of the meeting includes important regulations to improve the data situation,” writes Baehrens.
Nevertheless, the discussions about the German corona data will probably not stop. The abolition of free rapid tests for people without symptoms could prove to be an obstacle to reliably recording the events of the pandemic.
And the lack of a nationwide register for hospital beds on normal wards is also problematic. Because whether the health care system is overloaded can only be assessed seriously – especially because many corona patients no longer end up in the intensive care unit. However, this point does appear in the draft law on the “Protection of Vulnerable Groups”.
Overall, Baehrens is confident that together with the FDP, we will go down a “path to responsible provision”. “We don’t want any more lockdowns or school closures. But that is precisely why milder means must be used uniformly and with legal certainty in order to control the pandemic.”
In any case, Lauterbach wants to present key points for the future infection protection law before the end of the summer break. He is currently negotiating with the FDP-led Federal Ministry of Justice, among others.
“I am planning with results in the next few weeks, not just in September when the Infection Protection Act expires. That would be too late,” he said in an interview with “Zeit Online”. So there is a small glimmer of hope. And: Some MPs are already preparing for special sessions of the Bundestag during the summer break. Because of the energy crisis – but also because of Corona.
Janosch Dahmen, the health policy spokesman for the Greens in the Bundestag, was not available for comment.