B.and and countries want to agree on how to proceed in the corona crisis this Wednesday from 2 p.m. Before the consultations between Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the Prime Minister, there were signs of an extension of the lockdown that had initially been agreed until next Sunday. On the other hand, several countries already have concrete plans to gradually reopen daycare centers and schools from next week.
There is agreement that schools and daycare centers should open first. However, it is unclear when this will happen. The agenda therefore also includes a longer-term opening perspective to show what a gradual return to normality could look like if the number of infections continued to fall.
Schwesig wants to open gradually
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) demanded such a clear opening perspective for schools and business. “If we extend the shutdown until March 1st, we have to say at the same time: What will be opened in which steps? From what incidence? “, Schwesig said on” Bild Live “. As an example, she cited an incidence of 50 and less for hair salons to reopen. With an incidence of less than 35, one could talk about retail. “People are at the attack and ask: How long should this go on?” So she does not want to say that everything will only open again at an incidence of 35.
With regard to the schools, Schwesig said that where the incidences are low, elementary schools and daycare centers are left open in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In hotspots, however, there is only one emergency operation. “I advise that we do this all over Germany.” You can proceed regionally and do not have to wait “until the last district goes down with the infections”.
The business association “Economic Council of the CDU” is pushing for an opening and bringing a shortening of the summer holidays into play. “Schools and daycare centers urgently need to be reopened,” said Secretary General Wolfgang Steiger of the “Rheinische Post”. “This is first and foremost in the interests of the children and their education. At the same time, millions of parents who have looked after their children at home for weeks must be able to go back to their paid work without any restrictions. The double burden of home office and home schooling cannot be sustained in the long term, ”he emphasized. The registered association is not an official party division of the CDU.
Teachers and the catering union urge caution
Teachers’ associations and unions speak out against opening up too quickly. “I recommend: Better to wait another week or two than to risk too much too early,” explains the President of the German Teachers’ Association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, of the “German editorial network”. According to Meidinger, a clear plan and fixed criteria for what should happen at what incidence are needed for school openings.
The food-gourmet-restaurants union (NGG) is also warning against opening restaurants and hotels too quickly. “The hospitality industry must not become a field of experimentation when dealing with new dangers,” said NGG boss Guido Zeitler of the “Rheinische Post” with a view to the more contagious virus mutations. The protection of employees has the highest priority. “But the hospitality industry has shown that this is possible with sophisticated hygiene concepts and measures for occupational health and safety,” says Zeitler. It is important that the regulations apply uniformly nationwide.
Giffey for more rapid tests in schools
Federal Family Minister Franziska Giffey calls for preparations for the massive use of rapid tests in schools. “Rapid tests are a huge opportunity for opening strategies,” said the SPD politician of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. “Since February 2nd, rapid tests have also been approved for use by non-medical personnel with training videos. They are already being used in Potsdam and Bremen, Berlin has ordered such tests, and Austria is also showing the way. “
The approval of several easy-to-use rapid tests for self-application by laypeople is in preparation and is expected in the next few weeks. As soon as a city, a district or a region can guarantee the rapid testing of the staff and further hygiene and precautionary measures and the incidence is low, “daycare centers and schools can also gradually reopen,” said Giffey. “My appeal to the federal states is: The widespread use of these rapid tests must now be prepared so that they can be used immediately when they are approved and available.” And further: “The federal states should really do everything in motion here.”
Worries and other psychological stress
The chairwoman of the German Society for Suicide Prevention, Ute Lewitzka, warns of the consequences of extending the lockdown without the prospect of an exit. “People with mental illnesses such as anxiety disorders are particularly exposed to the pandemic,” said the specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy in the newspapers of the Funke media group. “In addition, many people have a growing financial need for existence, which can be a risk factor for the development of suicidality.”
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According to Lewitzka, there are currently fewer therapeutic offers depending on the region because face-to-face counseling is often only possible to a limited extent or not at all. “An extension of the lockdown must therefore be linked to a clear perspective on the conditions under which measures can be mitigated or lifted,” demands the doctor. “We also urgently need a state-supported national suicide prevention program and good awareness-raising campaigns in order to prevent an increase in the suicide rate.”
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