These are the most important agreements for autumn

Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Prime Ministers took a good three hours on Tuesday to agree on how the federal and state governments will go into the second Corona autumn. The main goal: There should be new momentum in the vaccination campaign.

Therefore, the decision paper runs on an urgent vaccination appeal out. “How the number of infections develops depends largely on how high the vaccination rate is in Germany. That is why the Federal Chancellor and the heads of government of the federal states are campaigning for all citizens to be vaccinated as quickly as possible, ”the decision said. “There is now enough vaccine in stock. The promise to offer every citizen a vaccination offer in the summer has now been fulfilled. ”

A higher vaccination rate is considered necessary because the delta variant of the virus that has now predominated is more contagious. However, the group emphasized that the vaccines were also highly effective against this variant. The consequence for everyone who is not immunized: “Those who are not vaccinated will have to be tested regularly when they meet other people indoors in order to prevent the virus from spreading,” says the paper.

Last but not least, “low-threshold, target group-related and outreach offers” should bring momentum – the vaccination centers should, so to speak, reach the people, not the other way around. Politicians also rely on employers. They are intended to support employees in taking advantage of vaccination offers, “in particular by informing employees, creating company vaccination offers by company doctors and giving employees time off to take advantage of vaccination offers”.

It should also serve as an incentive that Vaccinated and convalescent are exempted from all test obligations – it is sufficient if they submit their evidence where necessary. They are also no longer subject to quarantine obligations – neither after contact with infected people nor after returning from abroad. The “basic protection measures” continue to apply to everyone: keeping your distance, hand hygiene, wearing masks, where necessary, regular indoor ventilation. Anyone who has symptoms should continue to be tested. The wearing of medical masks remains mandatory in retail and local public transport. The necessity of these measures is checked at least every four weeks.

These are the most important agreements between the federal and state governments:

• Der negative Corona-Test: Unvaccinated people should only get access to restaurants or cultural events with negative test results.
• The 3G scheme: Access to indoor events or facilities should only be possible for vaccinated, convalescent or tested people.
• The free tests: Free tests should no longer be available as of October 11th. Unvaccinated people would then have to pay for corona tests.
• the pandemic situation: The regulations with special access rights are to be extended beyond September by the Bundestag.

From August 23, the so-called 3-G rule apply: Where specified, only vaccinated, convalescent and tested people can get access. Non-immunized adults (pupils are excluded because they are tested frequently anyway) are then obliged to submit a negative rapid antigen test that is not older than 24 hours – or a negative PCR test that is not older than 48 hours . The areas of application of the 3-G rule are hospitals, old people’s and nursing homes and facilities for the disabled.

Also the Indoor catering as well as stays in hotels, guest houses and holiday complexes are included. as well Indoor events and celebrations, whether culture or sport. Anyone wishing to attend church services or other religious gatherings indoors must pay attention to “3G”. This also applies to the “use of body-friendly services” – these are hairdressers, beauticians, body care facilities.

Indoor sports, whether in fitness studios, swimming pools or sports halls, are subject to 3G. The obligation applies from an incidence of 35 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days – this is the entry threshold for restrictions under the Infection Protection Act. Italy has just introduced a similar regulation, which is called the “Green Pass” there: Regardless of the incidence, you are only allowed to enter restaurants with evidence of vaccination, convalescence or a test, for example.

It should be used for larger events indoors, but also in bars and clubs Seat requirement with distance regulation give – this is how superspreader events should be kept small. States and municipalities
can, in addition to the 3G regulation, limit the number of participants and access in individual cases where they deem it necessary. There is agreement that at major sporting events “above an absolute number of 5000 spectators the maximum permissible occupancy is 50 percent of the respective maximum capacity, but not more than a total of 25,000 spectators”.

That Offer of free rapid tests should end on October 11th. From then on, non-vaccinated people have to expect to have to pay for their tests – also from the 35 threshold. “For people who cannot be vaccinated and for whom there is no general vaccination recommendation (especially pregnant women, children and adolescents under the age of 18), there will still be the option of a free rapid antigen test,” says the decision. The reason is that the costs could no longer be borne by the general public, because now everyone would have received a vaccination offer.

Since these resolutions are only possible if there is a legal basis for them, the Bundestag should take the prolong epidemic of national importance.

The group did not want to agree on a new tier system for the incidence values. Merkel made it clear that they wanted to wait for the development here. According to Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU), the warning thresholds of 35, 50 and 100 infections per 100,000 inhabitants previously provided for in the Infection Protection Act within seven days have had their day. Regardless of some differences, there is consensus, Corona measures no longer just looking at the number of infections, so tie the seven-day incidence.

In the case of the “Federal Emergency Brake”, which expired at the end of June, an automatic measure applied when the incidence of more than 100 infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days – always at the level of the urban and rural districts. The Infection Protection Act also provides for the first general precautionary measures and restrictions for incidences of 35 and 50. It is planned to supplement the incidence with occupancy rates in clinics and local vaccination rates. But the vaccination rate in particular plays an important role – the hope is that the threshold values ​​can then be set higher through increased vaccinations – which then makes local lockdowns less likely.

The previous step model has become questionable with the relatively high vaccination rate. “We need a coordinated approach that maintains proportionality – the courts have recently pointed this out to us again and again,” he said Lower Saxony Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) the Tagesspiegel.

For example, the Lower Saxony Higher Administrative Court in Lüneburg decided last week “that in view of the progress of the immunization of the population and the associated extensive restriction of the infection rate to less vulnerable (younger) groups, an adjustment of the threshold values ​​to the changed situation was necessary”. On the basis of the currently applicable threshold values ​​”serious encroachments on fundamental rights could only be justified for a short transition period”

Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet had already spoken out on Monday in favor of “prudent but decisive action”. The North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister said it was a matter of avoiding another lockdown in the fall. From the federal-state consultations, therefore, a “large and closed vaccination appeal” should come from.

Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had once again advertised corona vaccinations before the summit. In the meantime, 52 million people have been vaccinated and “nobody has become an alien,” said the SPD candidate for chancellor of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (NOZ). “Many who have been skeptical up to now will hopefully now also get vaccinated, and then they will no longer have to be tested.”