As of: March 8, 2024, 6:09 p.m
By: Tadhg Nagel
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Press
Split
The corona pandemic is over, the process of coming to terms with it is just beginning. For Karl Lauterbach, the overall balance is positive.
Mistakes were still made.
Berlin - The coronavirus has now become endemic.
Covid-19 has become a part of everyday life and the pandemic is considered to be over - but the political process of dealing with the state requirements is far from complete.
Many politicians are now critical of the measures and would probably not support all of the decisions again.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) also admits shortcomings in the traffic light coalition's policy.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) is not entirely satisfied with the effects of the Corona measures.
© IMAGO
Mask and vaccination requirements, distance regulations and school closings: many regulations from the time of the corona pandemic were deep state interventions in the basic rights of citizens.
Even if there was no alternative at the time, or at least it seemed that way, they must be examined thoroughly afterwards - in order to understand their effects, but also in order to better deal with similar incidents should it become necessary again.
The work on the Corona measures “continues” - Lauterbach draws a positive overall assessment
According to Lauterbach, this reappraisal began during the pandemic and “continues,” as he made clear to
Spiegel
.
What is certain is that Germany got through this time “very well”, also considering the age of the population.
In addition, the country is now much better prepared for a possible next pandemic, be it in the development of vaccines or the provision of protective material.
There is only one aspect that worries the health minister: “a massively mobilized subgroup” that overlaps heavily with AfD voters and categorically rejects infection protection measures.
This could “make any future pandemic more difficult to deal with politically.”
Despite this positive overall balance, Lauterbach admitted to the magazine that they had “also made mistakes”.
“The biggest mistake was that we were sometimes too strict with the children and probably started the easing measures a little too late.”
Lauterbach continued, not enough effort was made to “avoid educational deficits” and “maintain the educational offerings in schools.”
“Warning signals were overlooked” and too little psychotherapeutic care was offered to young people;
In general, children were “offered too little”.
Last but not least, they failed to take advantage of the opportunity to improve the “catastrophic digitalization” in schools.
“We got in very hard” with schools and daycare centers – Lauterbach admits political mistakes during the pandemic
It is not the first time that Lauterbach has commented critically on the Corona measures.
The SPD politician was not yet in the office of health minister at the beginning of the pandemic, but as a health expert for the SPD he played a key role in decisions in the joint government with the Union.
In January last year, Lauterbach announced
the long closure of the “
ARD” morning magazine
Schools and daycare centers denounced.
The federal government “went in very hard” there, while many companies were “relatively spared”.
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Nevertheless, Lauterbach said at the time that he thought it was difficult to “ask for forgiveness” – after all, people simply didn’t know enough about the novel coronavirus.
However, it subsequently “did not prove to be correct” that daycare centers and schools were closed for months during the first Corona waves in order to prevent the spread.
“73 percent still psychologically stressed” - The measures have caused damage to children
A report from an interministerial working group presented in February 2023 comes to a similar conclusion.
Eating disorders, lack of exercise and depression among children and young people have increased during the pandemic.
At that time, “73 percent were still mentally stressed,” according to the Federal Ministries for Family and Health.
The pandemic has led to delays in language, emotional and academic development as well as interruptions in young people's education, the report continued.
If the social background of the children is taken into account, it becomes clear that the disadvantage has increased.
There is therefore still a “great need for action to alleviate the ongoing psychological stress on young people in particular”.
(tpn)