Bavaria ends the pandemic: why Söder is right and Lauterbach and the Greens are not

Created: 09/12/2022, 18:24

By: Georg Anastasiadis

Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD);

Merkur Editor-in-Chief Georg Anastasiadis.

© Kay Nietfeld/dpa/Marcus sleep

In Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt, the mask requirement is history.

The deadly plague is defeated.

And the state must stop telling its citizens how to protect themselves.

A commentary by Georg Anastasiadis.

Today is a good day in Bavaria: the obligation to wear a mask on local public transport expired at midnight.

After three years of more or less serious encroachments on citizens’ freedom rights – beware of the irony – the state government made up of Söder’s CSU and the Free Voters, which has been so strict for so long, is proclaiming the actual end of the pandemic.

That doesn't mean that Corona isn't still with us.

But it has lost its fearsome lethality.

The virus no longer plays a major role in the clinics, especially in Bavaria with the lowest incidences nationwide today.

And yet the saddest of all lamentations is being sung again in Germany: that of the “federal patchwork quilt”.

SPD Health Minister Lauterbach criticizes the Bavarians and calls on the citizens to fight the virus "in the last stand";

and the Greens point out the high number of respiratory infections and call for the mask requirement to be extended.

Lauterbach found his life theme (or trauma?) in Corona

Both remain trapped in the logic of the pandemic: Lauterbach found his life theme (or trauma?) in Corona;

waiting for the knight against the virus to eventually shed his armor is a futile effort.

Yes, it's true, after three years of measures and social distancing, many people's immune systems have been weakened.

We first have to learn again to expose ourselves to all types of pathogens and thereby build up natural protection.

But the longer mask requirement demanded by the Greens only postpones this process, which we will have to go through sooner or later.

Anyone who feels endangered should continue to wear the mask.

Voluntarily.

The pandemic is over.

Politicians must stop dictating how we have to protect ourselves and what risks we can take in life.

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