Deadline extension failed: masks and 3G rule fall

Created: 03/28/2022Updated: 03/28/2022, 17:50

Karl Lauterbach (SPD), Federal Minister of Health, speaks at a press conference.

© Christoph Soeder/dpa

In a few days, the masks and access restrictions will also fall in the southwest.

Despite the high number of new infections.

And although almost all government officials in the federal and state governments want to keep them - except for those from the traffic light FDP.

Stuttgart/Berlin - Now there is no longer any doubt: In Baden-Württemberg, almost all protective measures will no longer apply next Sunday, despite the high number of new corona infections.

The country failed on Monday in the conference of health ministers with the push to extend the mask requirement and access restrictions by four weeks after the transition period until April 2nd.

Bavaria and three other states also supported the application.

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In contrast to Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD), the coalition of Greens and CDU in the southwest sees no secure legal basis in the new Infection Protection Act for imposing stricter measures in corona hotspots.

Lauterbach accused Baden-Württemberg and other critical countries of not using the “good law” of the traffic light coalition with reference to legal pretexts.

The law was a "botch", it was said in coalition circles in Stuttgart.

Lauterbach's instructions from Monday did not change that.

It is practically impossible to implement the hotspot regulation at state or district level in a legally secure manner.

This Tuesday morning, the leaders of the Greens and CDU will discuss the procedure in the coalition committee, and then the cabinet will decide.

It is considered certain that the conditions will initially be lifted from this Sunday.

Lauterbach said on Monday after a switch with his country colleagues that the application from Baden-Württemberg and four other countries had been rejected.

He also rejected the demand from the southwest and many countries to improve the hotspot regulation in the Infection Protection Act.

"The states are demanding a law, which is not legally possible." Lauterbach called on the states to follow the example of Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and now quickly use the hotspot regulation.

"Countries have the right and duty to protect citizens."

From Sunday, according to the recently amended Infection Protection Act and a transitional period, mask requirements will only be possible to a limited extent, for example in clinics or nursing homes and on public transport.

This change is largely due to the FDP in the federal government.

Masks in shops or schools and 2G or 3G access rules can still exist under federal law, but only regionally if the respective state parliament determines a particularly critical corona situation there (hotspot rule).

Lauterbach explained on Monday that there are four criteria that countries should be able to use to implement the hotspot regulations.

This includes when planned interventions can no longer be carried out in hospitals due to Corona, emergency care is at risk, care falls below lower limits or patients have to be transferred to other hospitals.

The Ministry of Social Affairs in Stuttgart had examined the hotspot regulation in the law and declared it unworkable.

Unlike in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the density of clinics in the southwest is much higher.

This means that if the hospitals in one urban or rural district are overwhelmed, patients could be transferred to neighboring districts relatively easily.

This has been practice for a long time anyway and has nothing to do with a crisis situation.

The Federal Minister of Health warned that the federal states should not speculate that the number of cases would go down and that the problem would take care of itself.

"It won't do it." This also cannot be the spirit in which one tries to overcome the pandemic.

The numbers are at a very, very high level, and the hospitals are sometimes very heavily burdened.

Despite the high number of new infections in the southwest, the occupancy of the hospitals with Covid 19 patients is still far from the limit.

According to official information, there are currently around 2030 patients in the normal wards;

the capacity is around 5500. According to the latest figures, 263 people were treated in the intensive care units.

The capacity here is more than 600 patients.

However, the SPD in the country, for example, repeatedly points out that the clinics are also heavily burdened by many infections among the staff.

dpa