The corona virus can be fatal, but there is no antidote: the restrictions imposed are now being questioned. Who decided what, who says what, and what Thursday brings to the topic.
Berlin (dpa) - Does the federal government sacrifice freedom for society with its contact restrictions and other measures to curb the coronavirus epidemic? Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann has clearly contradicted this.
"First of all, we do not sacrifice freedom rights because the freedom rights are only temporarily limited," said the Greens politician in the ARD. Second, it is about saving lives in "a disaster situation". "The population can be sure that at the end of this crisis, liberties will be radically restored as they were before," he said.
However, the former president of the Federal Constitutional Court, Hans-Jürgen Papier, warns of a long-term interference with fundamental rights. "If this takes a long time, then the liberal constitutional state has abdicated," he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung. He currently considers the restriction of freedom of movement to be legal. Politicians and administrators only have to check again and again whether there are less drastic measures. The former Federal Minister of the Interior Gerhart Baum (FDP) therefore spoke in an interview with the editorial network Germany for an expiry date of all measures taken of two months.
FDP leader Christian Lindner again asked the federal government to open prospects for a gradual loosening of the restrictions so as not to endanger the acceptance of the population. "Many are just as afraid of bankruptcy as they are of the virus," he told Berlin's "Tagesspiegel" and criticized: "Nobody knows exactly what the federal government is up to."
Hamburg's Prime Minister Peter Tschentscher disagreed. The SPD man had agreed with Chancellor Merkel and the Prime Minister on the previous day that the measures would be retained until after the Easter holidays. On ZDF, he explained that there is always new knowledge about the virus, the disease and the therapy that could have an impact on the burden on the health system. "And that's why there is still too much uncertainty for us to be able to give a clear point in time when we can gradually step out of the measures again."
As a result, the reopening of schools is uncertain. The President of the Conference of Ministers of Education, the Rhineland-Palatinate Department Head Stefanie Hubig (SPD), told the newspapers of the Funke media group: "At the moment we are not sure whether the schools can open again on April 20." Until then, the measures are currently limited.
WHAT HAVE THE BUND AND COUNTRIES AGREED ON WEDNESDAY?
CONTACTS: Citizens "are encouraged to reduce contact with other people outside of their own household to an absolute minimum, even during the Easter holidays, in accordance with the applicable rules," says the federal-state resolution. People should generally refrain from private trips and visits - including from relatives. After the contact restrictions decided a week and a half ago, gatherings of more than two people are generally prohibited, unless you live with them.
NURSING HOME: The federal and state governments agreed on the urgency of protective measures for nursing homes and facilities for the disabled. The risk of infection from new people in the home should not increase, it said. This had to be decided on a case-by-case basis in the countries. There have been numerous deaths in homes.
PROTECTIVE MASKS: There should currently be no obligation to wear. It is important to ensure the needs of hospitals, doctors and nurses. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor informed that protective masks for medical personnel could exceptionally be reused under certain conditions.
TRACKING APP: Merkel advocated the use of such apps, but on a voluntary basis. If you can track contact cases with it, be prepared to use it yourself.
AND WHAT IS IMPORTANT ON THURSDAY ON CORONA?
The Corona Committee of the Federal Cabinet is again advising on the crisis. Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze also wants to talk to journalists about combating the causes of such epidemics. The SPD politician should take the opportunity to say something about the postponement of the UN climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Instead of November, it should only meet sometime in 2021, as the British government had announced.
In the newspapers of the Funke media group, Schulze warned against questioning EU climate protection plans due to the crisis. "Climate change is not going away," she said. Poland and the Czech Republic had previously questioned the EU's plan to achieve climate neutrality on the continent by 2050 due to the pandemic.
In addition, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) and SPD boss Norbert Walter-Borjans will speak about the protective shield for business and employees. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wants to present her plan to support short-time workers in the EU and especially in countries like Italy and Spain, which are badly affected by the crisis.
