The situation in the morning - How rapid tests help us out of the pandemic; the KSK scandal force does not come to rest; can we live without garbage?

Test it quickly

"A self-test," says the SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach, "which is used twice a week in schools or in companies, can help end the pandemic."

Well, if you want to shout, bring these things!

In fact, Health Minister Jens Spahn surprised a few days ago with the message that from March 1, anyone can use a free rapid test to check whether they are infected or not.

The pharmacists, doctors and municipalities who had to organize the free testing were particularly surprised.

The Association of Towns and Municipalities immediately dampened hopes.

Citizens should not believe that from March 1st, rapid tests will be available in large numbers "everywhere for everyone".

A large SPIEGEL team has researched for a report whether rapid tests can actually bring us back to normal faster, why Spahn's strategy has flaws and why the Boeblingen district is already further ahead than others.

Incidentally, at 2 p.m. today, the Minister of Health invites you to a talk with experts;

• The test offensive: Jens Spahn's rapid test strategy is so sketchy

Command chaos

The amnesty of arms is a ritual that is carried out in Germany every few years.

The last public collection in early 2018 brought together 71,000 pistols, revolvers and rifles.

The idea: Before owners of illegal weapons do nonsense, they should be allowed to hand over their dangerous goods to the authorities without penalty.

The head of the Special Forces Command (KSK), the elite unit of the Bundeswehr, apparently had the same thoughts.

As my colleague Matthias Gebauer found out, the general is said to have set up "amnesty boxes" in the KSK barracks in Calw in spring 2020 and asked his men to anonymously throw ammunition that they had secretly taken home with them.

In the end, there were around 50,000 rounds of stolen ammunition in the boxes, including hand grenades.

Icon: enlarge

Elite soldiers of the KSK

Photo: Carsten Rehder / dpa

Actually, the general should have reported the theft of the ammunition, instead he is said to have assured his soldiers that "nobody's head would be torn off."

Now the Ministry of Defense is examining the case.

Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer had promised last summer after serious right-wing extremist activities had become known in the elite troops, they would go through with an "iron broom".

The association's second operational company, which was at the center of the scandals, was dissolved.

It seems as if the minister has to get the broom out again.

Tomorrow there will be a new episode in the KSK saga.

Then colleague Gebauer reports why the FBI once moved out because of the German elite fighters.

• Amnesty at the KSK

Zero garbage

Much has been written about the collateral damage of the pandemic, most recently the focus was on children.

What are the psychological consequences of the shutdown for you, how can the long gap in lessons be compensated for?

One aspect has not been the focus so far, but it is also one of the collateral damage: During the pandemic, the amount of packaging waste increased.

We have more parcels sent home, the delivery service brings the food in cardboard boxes and plastic bowls, the bakery has coffee-to-go, you are not allowed to sit inside.

Before the pandemic, around 400,000 one-way boxes were thrown away every hour in Germany, and another 80,000 were added in the spring shutdown

My colleagues Alexander Jung, Nils Klawitter and Marcel Rosenbach described the garbage problem for the current cover story in SPIEGEL.

Because although the Germans are, at least according to their own perception, waste avoiders, recycling kings and packaging-conscious people, the amount of waste continues to grow.

At the same time, more and more people are relying on products that do not harm nature and on concepts that use recycling or other forms of multiple use.

The Munich Oktoberfest, of all places, is a role model: there is almost only reusable tableware, the waste is separated on site, and leftover food is recycled separately.

Munich's Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter therefore wants to keep the whole city free of waste.

The global movement is called “Zero Waste”.

It sounds like "Zero Covid," the group advocating a hard lockdown.

• How could Germany become garbage-free?

The latest news from the night

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I say goodbye and wish you sunny days!

Your Martin Knobbe