Corona rules on the Omicron test bench: CSU puts pressure on federal-state meetings

Created: 01/21/2022, 08:04

Markus Söder (CSU, r.), Prime Minister of Bavaria and CSU Chairman, and Markus Blume, CSU General Secretary (l.) (archive image) © Sven Hoppe/dpa

In the opinion of CSU General Secretary Blume, the previous procedure must be put to the test because of the Omicron variant.

When it comes to compulsory vaccination, the CDU is pushing.

Berlin – On Monday, January 24th, they will come together again: the federal and state governments to discuss the corona situation.

With a view to the Omicron variant, which is currently causing the numbers to shoot up, the CSU* is pushing for a reassessment of the corona measures.

“It is true that the fundamentals are changing with Omikron.

We need an omicron check for the Corona* management in Germany," said CSU General Secretary Markus

.

"The upcoming Prime Ministers' Conference can be an important milestone to talk about these things."

Before the Corona summit, Söder spoke up: "We have to react appropriately"

The very contagious Sars-CoV-2 variant Omikron has now established itself in Germany.

It causes a sharp increase in the number of new infections, but tends to be associated with milder courses than the delta variant.

Countries like Spain are therefore considering changing the corona strategy, also because the number of corona intensive care patients is not increasing as it is at Delta.

There are also advocates for this in Germany.

Politicians like the Green health expert Janosch Dahmen warn that Omikron is milder, but not harmless.

Experts also often refer to the comparatively high number of unvaccinated people in Germany and urge caution.

"We have to react appropriately," emphasized CSU boss Markus Söder* on Thursday evening in the ZDF program "maybrit illner".

But: “I think we have a new situation now.

And part of a smart policy is not simply to react stubbornly or ideologically, or even to be personally motivated, but always to put the well-being of the country and the people in the foreground.”

Video on the current corona situation: Incidence rises above 700 for the first time

Corona in Germany: The federal and state governments will discuss the situation on Monday

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach * expects a stress test for the hospitals in mid or late February.

According to the SPD politician, Germany will then be confronted with several hundred thousand newly infected people every day.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), on the other hand, expects that the maximum deflection of the omicron wave in Germany cannot be precisely measured by reporting data.

"However, the magnitude and the decisive trends in the epidemiological development are reliably displayed," wrote the RKI in its Corona weekly report published on Thursday evening.

The background to the temporarily incomplete recording of infected people is, for example, limited test capacities and human resources due to the high number of cases, it said.

MPK on Corona: Kretschmer (CDU) calls for a mandatory vaccination proposal from the traffic light government

Since the federal states have already pushed for progress in terms of compulsory vaccination at the past Corona summits, it can be assumed that it will be on the agenda again this time.

In the coming week, the Bundestag wants to deal with compulsory vaccination in a first debate.

In the meantime, Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer has called for a proposal from the federal government. "Introducing compulsory vaccination is a task for the coalition in Berlin," said the CDU* politician to the

. Therefore, the government must now vigorously advance with a proposal, promote its proposal and take others with it. “It cannot be that with this pandemic all unpleasant issues are weighted away to the federal states, the RKI or the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut. That's not how it works."

Kretschmer emphasized that politicians need leadership, especially when it comes to difficult issues.

The traffic light coalition should therefore quickly inform the population whether they are serious about introducing compulsory vaccination and whether they have a majority for it.