Baden-Württemberg is working on an opening plan for the end of February

Created: 2022-02-07 12:04 p.m

Winfried Kretschmann (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) puts a newspaper on the government bench before the start.

© Bernd Weißbrod/dpa/archive image

Kretschmann does not want to talk about an end to the Corona measures before Easter.

But there are also hopeful signs.

The situation in the clinics will probably allow further easing in the near future.

Stuttgart – The state of Baden-Württemberg is working on a relaxation plan for the Corona * restrictions, which could possibly take effect at the end of February.

As the German Press Agency learned from government circles in Stuttgart on Sunday, a hearing by the Ministry of Social Affairs with clinic representatives and scientists on February 18 will clarify whether further opening steps are responsible.

At the meeting shortly after the Prime Minister's Conference, it should be clarified whether there are still enough beds in the normal wards of the hospitals in the south-west to be able to take in more Covid patients.

The reason for the strategy is that the peak of the omicron wave should be over in mid-February.

Positive signal: situation in clinics is manageable

If the capacities in the hospitals are sufficient or can be expanded, which is assumed, the measures should be relaxed further towards the end of February, it said.

Then the existing system of stages is to be adapted more closely to the omicron virus variant.

According to reports, the impression that Omicron is more contagious than Delta, but significantly fewer people become seriously ill and have to go to the intensive care unit, is also becoming more and more substantiated in the southwest.

On the other hand, the 7-day incidence has exploded and the number of Covid patients who are in the normal ward is increasing more rapidly.

But that is likely to be manageable, according to government circles.

Kretschmann, Relaxation and the "Liturgy in Politics"

Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann made it clear at the weekend that the country would continue to open if clinics and family doctors could cope well with the number of Covid 19 patients.

"Of course there will be relaxation and I will do it myself if the infection situation allows it - more precisely, if the burden on the health system allows it," said the Green on Deutschlandfunk.

He was more skeptical on Tuesday.

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Relaxed corona rules: there are no curfews

Kretschmann rules out the end of the measures before Easter

The Green politician showed understanding that after two years in the pandemic, people wanted to discuss an “exit strategy”, i.e. an end to the countermeasures.

But he, as head of government, does not want to start such a debate.

If he does that, "then comes the exit".

That shows his experience.

"That's the liturgy in politics." For the time after Easter, i.e. mid-April, you can talk about it, because then there are school holidays.

"Then maybe that's coming up."

Adapt step-by-step plan for further openings

The opening plan provides for an adjustment of the level system and there are two options: either the government raises the limit values ​​​​for the four levels significantly, so that there are fewer restrictions on daily life.

Or the measures within the stages are weakened.

Alarm level I is currently in force in the south-west because the hospitalization limit of 3.0 has been significantly exceeded.

There are significantly higher hurdles for alert level II: Here the hospitalization incidence must be over 6.0 - which it already is - and the number of intensive care beds occupied by Covid patients must be over 450.

But that is not yet in sight.

Doctors should treat more Covid patients

In order to further relieve the hospitals, general practitioners and internists should also be more involved in the treatment of Covid patients than they already are.

In consultation with the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Baden-Württemberg Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians sent out guidance on diagnostics and therapy for Covid patients on Thursday.

An overview of the medications that can be used in the event of an infection is also given here.

The background is that even more people who have moderate symptoms should be treated on an outpatient basis.

First further easing in the cabinet

The state cabinet wants to ease further this Tuesday.

The waiver of the Luca app should be anchored in the new regulation.

This means that anyone who goes to a restaurant or café should no longer have to enter their contact details.

In addition, more spectators are to be officially allowed again at major events.

The adjustment provides that up to 10,000 spectators are permitted outdoors with a maximum occupancy of 50 percent, taking into account the 2G plus rule.

Kretschmann teases Scholz

The head of government criticized the actions of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in the Corona policy.

"In a crisis, the head of government's authority to issue guidelines is simply required," said Kretschmann on Deutschlandfunk.

If the coalition partners do not follow this relatively freely, that is a problem.

Above all, the FDP in the federal government is pushing for rapid opening steps and parts of the liberals are against general vaccination.

Kretschmann fears that compulsory vaccination will be talked about in the Bundestag.

FDP sees a lurching course at Kretschmann

FDP parliamentary group leader Hans-Ulrich Rülke countered: "Anyone who has acted so contradictorily in recent weeks and had to correct himself as often as Winfried Kretschmann should be cautious with his criticism of others." Rules in the catering trade, the court case lost by the government about the so-called phased plan, which Kretschmann did not adhere to, and the debate about easing until Easter.

Since Kretschmann likes to quote the Bible, he is also familiar with the image of someone who laments the speck in someone else's eye, but overlooks the log in his own eye.

"In the case of Corona, there is a whole rainforest in Kretschmann's eye."