Mask requirement in Bavaria, no mask requirement in Baden-Württemberg - such a possible "cacophony cannot be conveyed to the citizens," says chief medical officer Nießen. His association has a traffic light system in mind for the autumn, according to which the countries should uniformly tighten corona measures.
The German medical officers are demanding uniform limit values for infection protection measures from the federal government and are proposing a traffic light system for this. "We need cross-national standards for when which rule applies," said the chairman of the Federal Association of Doctors in the Public Health Service, Johannes Nießen, of the Funke media group. "Hard, clear steps" are needed for the individual measures.
Regarding the proposed traffic light system, Nießen said that with an incidence of less than 500 and less than 1000 Covid intensive care patients nationwide and no worrying indications from the wastewater analyses, one is probably still in the green area. Further measures in the federal states are probably not necessary in such a situation.
If the values were above that, one must be alarmed and masks must be prescribed at indoor events, said Nießen. With an incidence of over 1000 and more than 5000 Covid intensive care patients, the traffic light should then turn red. Then there should no longer be any exceptions to the mask requirement, “and further measures must be decided on,” said Nießen, who is head of the Cologne health department and a member of the federal government’s Corona Expert Council.
With the same infection situation, it shouldn't happen that you drive across the state border from Bavaria to Baden-Württemberg and sometimes have to wear the mask in the restaurant and sometimes not: "Such a cacophony is not conveyable to the citizens."
From the point of view of the medical officers, the incidence must remain an important benchmark for fighting the pandemic. In addition to the incidence and the hospital occupancy with Covid patients, the number of deceased, the data from the wastewater analyzes and the burden on the health system from other virus waves such as the flu should also be included, according to the chief medical officer.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach spoke out against fixed limit values on Friday and pointed out the high number of unreported cases. Instead, it is more legal to "operate with a description of the danger," argued the SPD politician. He announced timely consultations with the heads of the state chancellery about the planned new infection protection law.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig did not call for a traffic light system, but she is also pushing for uniform guidelines to further contain the pandemic. "It is important that we get clarity on how we want to survive the fall and winter with Corona," said Schwesig. Coordination between the federal and state governments is needed. "We don't want any more closures, we want to keep the pandemic under control with lighter measures. For example, by wearing masks indoors if necessary," she explained.
When it comes to vaccination, the head of government in Schwerin expects clear recommendations for further action from the Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO). "There will practically only be a fourth vaccination for the population if there is a STIKO recommendation for it. Because only then will the doctors implement it," she said.
