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"Doesn't make sense - especially at Omikron": Minister skeptical about mass testing in schools

2022-09-17T12:01:01.588Z


"Doesn't make sense - especially at Omikron": Minister skeptical about mass testing in schools Created: 09/17/2022, 13:52 By: Christina Denk The new Infection Protection Act from autumn was hotly debated. After the vote in the Federal Council, there are now new new regulations for corona tests in schools. The Minister of Education has a clear recommendation. Berlin/Munich – With the start of s


"Doesn't make sense - especially at Omikron": Minister skeptical about mass testing in schools

Created: 09/17/2022, 13:52

By: Christina Denk

The new Infection Protection Act from autumn was hotly debated.

After the vote in the Federal Council, there are now new new regulations for corona tests in schools.

The Minister of Education has a clear recommendation.

Berlin/Munich – With the start of school in Bavaria on September 12, pupils in all federal states of Germany are now going back to school.

The new Infection Protection Act should take effect from October.

But what are the Corona measures for the students?

Mask, testing or not?

Opinions differ.

Now there are new proposals from Berlin.

And the Infection Protection Act will be adjusted again.

Corona tests in schools: Minister wants targeted testing - traffic light coalition changes infection protection law

"I don't think mass testing without cause makes sense - especially at Omikron," said Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) to the newspapers of the Funke media group.

"If testing, then it is targeted and specific to the cause - i.e. only if a child shows the corresponding symptoms."

The current infection protection law for autumn, which was approved by the Federal Council on Friday (September 16), provides a lot of freedom for the federal states.

Depending on the situation, the countries can introduce measures themselves.

This also included compulsory testing for school children.

According to the draft, you would have to present a negative corona test in the event of suspicion or actual infection in order to be able to go back to school.

After massive criticism from the countries, this is now to be changed.

The federal government pledged to remove these regulations for schools and daycare centers from the law at the Federal Council meeting on October 7th, so that there will be no obligation to test in the future.

Masks in schools: Minister of Education gives clear guidelines – countries should be “very cautious”

Not only testing like 2021 is up for debate.

The obligation to wear masks in schools also provided a topic of conversation.

According to the draft law, federal states can introduce a mask requirement in schools from the fifth grade, “if this is necessary to maintain regulated classroom teaching.” Federal Education Minister Stark-Watzinger also made it clear here that she did not consider corona protective masks to be necessary in the classroom until then the omicron variant dominates the course of infection.

"The federal states should therefore be very cautious with this instrument." She expects "that the omicron variant does not have to come into play at all," said the FDP politician.

She named two criteria for the introduction of a mask requirement in autumn: "The virus triggers more severe courses of the disease and it endangers face-to-face teaching."

Corona autumn in Bavaria: Söder appeals to personal responsibility – “who also wants a mask”

Statements similar to those made by the federal government were made by Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder in an interview with

Merkur.de.

"

Our recommendation is generally: personal responsibility, that means vaccination, testing and who wants a mask," says Söder.

Bavaria had not approved the draft law in the Bundesrat.

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In general, our recommendation is: personal responsibility, which means vaccination, testing and who wants a mask.

Markus Söder, Prime Minister of Bavaria, on measures in schools

The federal government and the RKI should adjust the quarantine times, according to Söder.

“Anyone who is sick must stay at home.

But does it need a long quarantine, even without symptoms?” According to the statements by Söder and Stark-Watzinger, the students in Germany should initially not be threatened with compulsory tests or masks in class.

How things will continue in winter remains to be seen.

Bavaria should not only hit the increasing number of infections in late autumn.

In the course of the Wiesn, the Prime Minister also expects higher incidences.

“The number of infections will probably increase, that is the experience of the previous festivals.

At the same time, fortunately, we don't measure an excessive burden on the hospitals anywhere," says Söder.

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Corona in Germany: What is the current situation?

Unlike in winter 2021, the number of corona infections in summer is less of an issue.

A brief overview of the current infection situation in Germany before autumn according to the RKI (as of September 16, 2022).

All federal states range between an incidence of 180 and 340. Baden-Württemberg has the lowest number of cases (7-day incidence: 182.1), Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania the highest (7-day incidence: 335.9).

Bavaria is in the middle with 275.1.

Germany (September 16, 2022)

Germany (March 16, 2022)

seven-day incidence

249.9

1,607.1

hospitalization

3.56

7.45

deceased

+117 (total: 148,845)

+269 (total: 126,142)

Percentage of Covid-19 patients in intensive care

3.3 percent

10.4 percent

RKI surveys show that more than 90 percent of adults in Germany have had repeated contact with the virus and have formed antibodies.

This can be the case through repeated vaccinations as well as through a vaccination and past infection.

The Federal Ministry of Research and Education assumes that most age groups will have moderate to high protection against severe courses of infection with the previous SARS-CoV-2 variants.

However, the protection against infection is low.

You can read the current Stiko vaccination recommendations here.

Virologist Streeck does not want to be vaccinated against Corona again.

(chd/dpa/AFP)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-09-17

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