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Brandenburg Minister of Health Ursula Nonnemacher with FFP2 mask
Photo: Soeren Stache / dpa
SPIEGEL: The
Chancellor and Prime Minister decided on a corona emergency brake at the beginning of March: If the seven-day incidence rises above 100, easing measures should be withdrawn and restrictive measures taken to contain the virus.
Brandenburg deviates from this, here the emergency brake is only pulled at a value of 200 - why?
Ursula Nonnemacher:
The statement that the emergency brake is only available in Brandenburg with a seven-day incidence of 200 is wrong.
We also observe the 100 limit, which applies politically, even if it is not explicitly formulated in the Brandenburg Corona Ordinance.
To person
Photo:
Martin Müller / imago images
The Green politician
Ursula Nonnemacher
, born in 1957, has been Minister of Social Affairs and Health and Deputy Prime Minister of Brandenburg since 2019.
Nonnemacher worked as a doctor before moving into the Brandenburg state parliament for the first time in 2009.
From 2017 to 2019 she was group leader of the Greens.
SPIEGEL: But
it makes a difference whether the limit is formulated or not.
Nonnemacher:
If we approach 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants at the state level, the cabinet meets immediately and thinks about what will be taken off the grid again.
Even in the rural districts and urban districts, those responsible on site must take measures from an incidence of 100.
From 200 onwards, they have to close everything that we have recently opened again.
The 200 limit therefore only applies at the municipal level.
SPIEGEL:
If this higher incidence value contributes to a stronger infection dynamic, are you responsible for it?
Nonnemacher:
I am responsible for this department.
But the decisions about how much we open or close are summarized by the cabinet together.
As the Minister of Health, I take a close look at health protection, my stance is restrictive.
Of course, I keep an eye on the mutations, I know the models from the Helmholtz Center that show how we run into a third wave because of the higher infection rate.
But there are also other colleagues in the cabinet who represent other interests.
We're trying to get a good mix out of it.
"I would have preferred a really tough lockdown in November instead of such a soft number."
SPIEGEL
: The SPD politician and physician Karl Lauterbach calls the Brandenburger Weg “moderately unbelievable”.
Before becoming a professional politician, you yourself worked as a doctor in a hospital for 30 years.
Can you understand Lauterbach's criticism?
Nonnemacher:
I submitted a draft that included the 100 incidence.
I could have lived with it.
But we decided together that we would define the border politically.
We are in a difficult tension.
A few months ago we said with a seven-day incidence of 50: We are in difficult waters.
Now we're well over 60 nationwide, but after four months of lockdown, people are simply exhausted.
They want a sign that it will eventually be over.
I take that seriously too.
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SPIEGEL:
So you just move the line up and say: Isn't that so bad?
Nonnemacher:
No, but the situation must not only be viewed from the perspective of infection protection.
I am the doctor, but I also see other issues, such as encroachments on fundamental rights.
Still, I remain cautious.
I would have preferred a really tough lockdown in November instead of such a soft number.
Hard and limited.
These four months stretched like chewing gum.
I understand that people are tired and longing to meet up with a good friend or have a beer outside.
SPIEGEL:
But what will the consequence be?
It is foreseeable that the number of infections will rise again and that we may have to go into a much stricter lockdown.
Nonnemacher:
I also see this risk.
That is why I would have dosed the easing more cautiously than the Prime Minister's Conference did.
Nevertheless, we cannot keep children away from school and daycare for a long time.
Psychological problems increase among children, and there is violence in families.
As a social politician, that must also concern me.
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SPIEGEL:
What do you suggest?
Nonnemacher:
If we open something, it is childcare and schools.
Of course, infections also occur in schools, this has now been proven, but we have to see contacts as the sum of the big picture.
That is why one should have become stricter in other areas and limit contacts there in order to flank the openings in daycare centers and schools.
I don't necessarily have to open the hardware store.
Above all, we should closely monitor the infection process for 14 days after each opening step.
But just to say that we won't open anything until the summer cannot be held politically.
SPIEGEL:
What happens instead?
Nonnemacher:
At the moment the principle of faith, love and hope applies.
We all know that we in Germany are not yet so advanced with vaccination that it has a significant impact on the infection process.
In addition, the test offers are not yet widely available everywhere.
SPIEGEL:
The Left criticized you for hiring a consulting firm to implement the national vaccination strategy - for 280,000 euros.
Nonnemacher:
The Left is scandalizing something that is not a scandal.
My ministry takes care of health, social policy, consumer protection, equality, family.
But at the moment, in addition to Corona, I have a crisis team for African swine fever, avian influenza, the AfD has brought in an investigative committee for us to determine whether Brandenburg was a Corona dictatorship during the first wave.
We've had a third of our workforce cut since the 2000s.
Now we are faced with all the challenges, my people have been in permanent crisis mode for a year.
Then there is the mammoth task of vaccinating.
So it is quite legitimate to also call in external expertise.
"We're not in a good position, there is no reason to be offended."
SPIEGEL:
Even so, Brandenburg ranks last in Germany when it comes to first-time vaccinations.
Nonnemacher:
The slow rate of vaccination gives me grief and worries.
At the beginning of January we were in fourth place.
Then, at a time of extreme vaccine shortage, we had to do a lot of second vaccinations.
That was a difficult time.
It took too long to take countermeasures here.
And it took a long time to restart the vaccination centers afterwards, also because it takes a lot of staff.
The centers are heavy tankers.
We slipped by the time this tanker was under way.
I very much regret that.
But now we have a different situation.
The municipalities and hospitals are more involved, the mobile vaccination teams in the country and the general practitioners will soon be more involved.
Yesterday we did almost 9000 vaccinations in one day.
SPIEGEL:
SPD Prime Minister Woidke has criticized the progress made in vaccinations in Brandenburg and thus you too.
What do you say to him?
Nonnemacher:
We are not in a good position, there is no reason to be offended.
I think the kind of criticism from coalition circles about press releases takes a bit of getting used to, but is perhaps also related to the many elections in 2021.
One or the other virtue quickly falls overboard.
It's not nice.
In principle, however, it is clear: We have a problem and we have to face it.
All together.
SPIEGEL:
What role does the super election year play in combating the pandemic?
Nonnemacher:
It does play a role.
The climate is harsher.
"The pandemic has shown us that we are not innovative enough."
SPIEGEL:
One antidote to the slow progress in vaccination would be for general practitioners to finally get involved across the board.
Why does it take so long?
Nonnemacher:
The vaccine quantities and the conditions are not yet such that the practices can be used on a large scale.
The reports to the Robert Koch Institute must be made less bureaucratic and simplified.
Distribution channels must be organized through pharmaceutical wholesalers and pharmacies.
It was clear that this would only be possible when relevant quantities of vaccine were available.
I very much welcome that the doctors in private practice can now get started in April.
SPIEGEL:
The family doctors' association had called for the prioritization to be lifted so that it would be less bureaucratic.
Now it still applies.
A mistake?
Nonnemacher:
The prioritization caused us a lot of problems.
For example, you need a medical certificate to prove which group you belong to.
That is one reason why Germany has such a hard time, other countries are not so bureaucratic.
But I stand by the prioritization.
Those at risk must first be vaccinated.
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SPIEGEL:
That can hardly be conveyed to the population.
Nonnemacher:
The Standing Vaccination Commission, the German Ethics Council and the Academy of Sciences have agreed on this system.
It is an ethical decision based on the individual risk.
It is right to vaccinate these people first.
SPIEGEL:
How has the country got through the crisis so far?
Nonnemacher:
Mediocre, I would say.
During the first wave we patted each other on the back in Germany to see how great we are.
In the second wave we had to experience that we are not that great after all.
There have been many deaths here, too, a lot of suffering, the hospitals have reached their capacity limits, and society has been divided.
The pandemic has shown us that we are not innovative enough.
We have to work on that.
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