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Karl Lauterbach
Photo: Frederic Kern / imago images / Future Image
The third corona wave is rolling, but the economy and education are suffering.
Politicians in Germany are therefore launching model projects that enable corona easing under certain conditions.
During Maybrit Illner's talk on ZDF, the SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach spoke out vehemently against such models.
"We don't need to try out here, as we did with Jugend forscht, what I can do with a few tests before it all collapses," said Lauterbach.
Instead of the test strategies, the SPD politician called for a strict two-week lockdown: "Even if it is unpopular to say that."
Lauterbach specifically refers to Tübingen.
The city in Baden-Württemberg has been allowing test openings since Tuesday in a model experiment.
At several test sites in the city, people can take free tests and the result is certified.
You can use it in shops or at the hairdresser's.
The outdoor restaurants and cultural institutions such as the cinema and theater will also be opened - and may be visited with a certificate.
Lockdown »just a matter of time«
Lauterbach considers such models to be sensible if "one is out of exponential growth".
But currently the idea that you can master the third wave with a lot of testing is half-baked.
Corona variant B.1.17 is so much more contagious that a lockdown is "only a matter of time," according to Lauterbach.
"If we get it later, it will last longer," the SPD politician prophesied.
Germany is currently in a completely unstable situation and that must first be intercepted.
"We won't be able to do that without a lockdown," said Karl Lauterbach.
The Saarland is also planning openings, here too, she considers Lauterbach to be a mistake.
It will be the first federal state to reopen extensively after Easter.
The Saarland state government wants to loosen the corona restrictions for gastronomy, sport and culture as well as private meetings from April 6th with a corresponding ordinance.
With a negative corona test, it should also be possible to visit theaters, cinemas, concert halls and fitness studios again.
If the procedure proves to be successful, further opening steps should follow from April 18th.
A rapid test strategy should keep the number of cases low.
The incidence values in the country are below 100 in all counties, but still over 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants.
SPD health expert Lauterbach tells SPIEGEL that the openings are "a programmed failure."
The virologist Martin Stürmer has also expressed skepticism about the planned corona easing in Saarland.
The attempt is very brave, said striker on Friday on RBB-Inforadio.
The basic idea of considering alternatives to lockdown is not bad either.
Striker advised against adopting the regulation for the entire state.
"I think we should first try to get the infection process under control again," the virologist pointed out.
"Even if the Saarland now has a low incidence, it doesn't mean that it has to stay that way." You have to go down now and at the same time not lose sight of such models, "but I would make them smaller and more targeted."
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