Discussion about loosening the corona: Scholz against Söder

Before the top-level talks by the federal and state governments on the further corona strategy on Monday Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder announced easing. “Bavaria will not support any tightening in the Prime Ministers’ Conference, but will adapt the rules in individual places,” said the CSU boss of the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. More participation will then be possible once more in culture, sport and youth work.

The decisive yardstick is the burden on the healthcare system, said Soeder. “And thanks to the consistent measures taken in recent weeks and the milder course at Omikron, the number of occupied intensive care beds has fortunately decreased overall,” said the Prime Minister.

Chancellor Scholz: “No course correction”

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) on the other hand, currently sees no reason to change course with the corona measures. “In any case, it is certainly not appropriate to relax the rules across the board in the middle of the Omicron wave,” he said in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” with a view to the upcoming corona consultations on Monday. “We don’t need a course correction.”

Scholz said the country is on the right track. The strict rules introduced in November meant that the omicron wave reached Germany later than its European neighbors. For example, he referred to the 2G plus rule for restaurants agreed at the last federal-state summit two weeks ago.

Wüst: “No loosening”

The government’s Corona Expert Council supports the retention of current regulations. In a new statement, the committee also called for preparations for possible further steps due to the rapid spread of the omicron variant.

North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst also warned once morest easing before the Prime Ministers’ Conference. “Tomorrow we will listen very carefully to what the expert council recommends. The key message now is: no easing,” says the CDU politician and chairman of the Prime Ministers’ Conference to RTL and ntv.

Template: Focus PCR testing on risk groups

The federal and state governments are also expected to decide on Monday that PCR tests will only be used to a limited extent in the future. This goes back to a suggestion by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD). Since laboratory capacities are becoming tighter due to the spread of the omicron variant, Lauterbach wants to keep these particularly precise tests available primarily for employees in sensitive healthcare facilities. the Health ministers of the countries had already spoken out in favor of such a regulation.

Infectiologist: Maintain regional lockdowns

From the medical side, the retention of the previous corona rules is required. The Munich infectiologist Clemens Wendtner continues to believe that restrictions are necessary when the number of infections is high and advocates maintaining the regulation on regional lockdowns from a seven-day incidence of 1,000. He thinks it makes sense “that the 1,000 value is adhered to,” said the chief physician at the Munich Clinic Schwabing of the German Press Agency.

“I would say that in view of the extremely increasing number of new infections these days and probably also in the next few weeks, we need further contact restrictions,” said the corona expert. An attempt would have to be made not to let the number of infections become too extreme in order not to overload the clinics. This also applies more and more to the normal wards, which need to be looked at more closely.

Slight relaxation in the intensive care beds

At the weekend, the seven-day incidence in Bavaria rose further to almost 864 on Sunday. According to the Robert Koch Institute, the value on Friday was still 755. The value in Free State was thus significantly higher than the national average at the weekend: reached throughout Germany the seven-day incidence on Sunday was 807.

Despite these high numbers, the situation in the clinics continued to ease somewhat. According to the Divi intensive care register, 332 adult Covid 19 patients were in the intensive care units in Bavaria on Sunday – eleven fewer than on Friday.

Virologist: “Inflammable” if you underestimate Omicron

The Munich virologist Oliver Keppler warned that the number of corona patients in the hospitals would once more be very high. The force of the wave of infections will be reflected there. “A trivialization of omicron would therefore be fatal, I consider the classification as ‘mild’, which is often read, to be extremely dangerous,” said the head of virology at Munich’s Ludwig Maximilian University.

The schools are also feeling the development of the number of cases. According to the Ministry of Education, more and more students in Bavaria are absent from class due to corona infections or quarantine. As of Friday it was 3.8 percent. That is more than twice as many as shortly following the Christmas holidays on January 11th. And in kindergartens, crèches and following-school care centers, many facilities are now also affected by the infection process.