Before the conference of Prime Ministers on Wednesday, who want to agree with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) on the measures to contain the coronavirus, several state politicians have announced easing. Hesse’s Prime Minister Volker Bouffier said on Tuesday after a meeting with Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (both CDU) that he could imagine that the federal and state governments would “with the great agreement” decide that they would “open up in retail, perhaps also in wholesale”.
According to Bouffier, some of the school classes could also start again – but initially only for students who are about to graduate, he said. In the state government of Hesse, it is believed that “with older schoolchildren, the necessary appeal to keep a distance, to comply with hygiene regulations, can succeed much better than with children in primary school”. Baden-Wurttemberg’s Minister of Culture Susanne Eisenmann (CDU) also thinks it makes sense “that we start with the re-entry with the students who are taking their final exams this year,” she said. This also applies to the students of the vocational schools.
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) said that he expected the conference on Wednesday to continue to apply uniform standards for dealing with the restrictions, but also flexible solutions for each individual federal state. Saxony’s Minister of Health, Petra Kopping (SPD), has already announced a four-stage plan, which she plans to present after the interview. In Berlin, the governing mayor Michael Muller (SPD) said that he expected the exit restrictions to change at the earliest at the end of April. In other countries such as Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony or Bavaria, meanwhile, warned against a hasty exit from the precautions to slow the pandemic.
The Robert Koch Institute is reluctant to respond
Federal Health Minister Spahn appealed to the country heads to adopt a “uniform framework” for their easing on Wednesday. It is a “high value” to coordinate politics and communication, he said. The EU Commission had also asked the member states to coordinate more closely from now on: “It is time to develop a well-coordinated exit strategy for the EU”, said a draft Commission recommendation later this week to be adopted.
However, Spahn already indicated that, in his view, a complete lifting of the ban on contact should not be expected. “All of the measures we have taken, such as keeping a distance, wearing masks, avoiding celebrations, are definitely measures that will have to last for the coming months,” he said in a television interview. He spoke of a “new normal” that Germany was now facing.
The exit debate had picked up speed on Monday due to the recommendation of the Leopoldina National Academy in Halle to cautiously withdraw social restrictions. The scientists particularly advocated the gradual opening of primary schools, also to alleviate the social consequences of the crisis. Chancellor Merkel had previously emphasized that the advice of this body was “very important” for her.
Federal Minister of Family Affairs Franziska Giffey (SPD) also welcomed on Tuesday that “concrete steps back to normal are being planned”. Parents were increasingly reaching their limits in childcare in addition to their job. This situation is particularly precarious for children from difficult social backgrounds. Against this social background, the Greens, as recommended by the Leopoldina, called for the primary school children to be looked after again. “We no longer need the condition we have had for some time now,” said Christian Lindner, head of the FDP. For example, more protective equipment is now available and people have learned to keep a distance.
The President of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, on the other hand, reacted cautiously to the discussion that sparked the Leopoldina paper. The view of infection numbers and hospital capacities in Germany is currently positive. However, sending “elementary school pupils back to school” does not make much sense for “epidemiological”. But he can only advise himself: “The decisions are made by politicians,” he said.
