Enlarge image
2G Plus in the Bundestag: AfD MPs follow the debate in the Bundestag from the stands
Photo: via www.imago-images.de / imago images/Political-Moments
Since mid-January, infected people in Germany have only been considered recovered three months instead of six after a corona disease.
However, members of the Bundestag are exempted by a special rule – six months continue to apply here.
Now the duration is to be discussed again.
There had previously been a lot of outrage about the special status.
The fact that the recovery period will now be reduced to three months is likely: SPD parliamentary secretary Katja Mast announced in Berlin that the topic would be discussed this Thursday in the parliament's council of elders.
She "certainly assumes" that the rules applicable to MPs will be changed for the next week of the session.
The fact that there was a special status in the Bundestag was simply due to the procedure: The new rules for attending meetings in the Bundestag were decided on January 10th - four days before the recovered status was reduced to three months on the recommendation of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). had been shortened.
On January 13, the Bundestag decided to leave the decision to the RKI.
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt had described the differences in the state and the Bundestag as "impudence".
The FDP health expert Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus was also critical: "There shouldn't be any special regulations in the Bundestag."
The fact that the recovered status was reduced from 180 to 90 days also caused criticism.
The Federal Ministry of Health justified the shortening with the omicron variant of the virus.
The determination of the RKI was made from a scientific point of view.
The background is that due to the predominant omicron variant, there is a much greater risk of falling ill again after this time or of being a carrier.
The previous period of six months was valid as long as one had to deal with the prevailing Delta variant.
The RKI explained: "These specifications are checked regularly and can change according to the state of the art."
The recovered status, like the vaccination status, is decisive for quarantine and entry regulations as well as for numerous leisure activities.
In the Bundestag, almost exclusively AfD MPs are currently affected by the regulation: Anyone who is not vaccinated must follow the debates from the stands, only those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered with a current test are allowed in the plenary hall.
If the recovery period is shortened, other politicians are likely to switch to the stands.
Among other things, AfD parliamentary group leader Alice Weidel, who claims to have had Corona in November, will then have to leave the plenary hall from February.
mrc/AFP