DThe nationwide corona measures are expiring. From this Saturday*, for the first time in three years, there will no longer be any government restrictions in connection with the pandemic. Until recently, visitors to hospitals and nursing homes were still required to wear an FFP2 mask; the same applied to patients and visitors to medical practices and dialysis facilities. Now these rules have also been dropped, at least by the state. Hospital operators and doctors can still demand that visitors put on a mask as part of their house rules.
It is unclear how many institutions will make use of it. The head of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Andreas Gassen, told the German Press Agency that medical practices could “of course” regulate the wearing of masks as part of the house rules. But it is good that there will soon no longer be an automatic obligation and that the principle of personal responsibility will apply again.
The head of the German Hospital Society, Gerald Gaß, emphasized that hospitals are used to “determining hygiene measures to protect their patients, even independently of Corona”. The clinics would now decide individually what was necessary. This depends, among other things, on the patient clientele and the work area of the clinic.
With the end of the last measures, Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) sees the corona crisis as over. If you look at the status of virus variants, vaccinations and the clinical cases that are still occurring, you can say that the pandemic in Germany has come to an end, said Lauterbach. “We have successfully overcome the pandemic in Germany and also with a good balance sheet.”
Financing of the corona vaccination unclear
However, it is still unclear how the financing of vaccinations will continue after the simultaneous end of the Corona Vaccination Ordinance. Corona vaccinations should be included in regular care. Lauterbach was disappointed that the self-administration of health insurance companies and doctors had not initially agreed on the future price for reimbursement. So he invited those involved to an interview.
There is already clarity in Bavaria. There, the corona vaccination remains a cash benefit, the health insurance companies and the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in the Free State agreed on a compromise on Thursday, i.e. shortly before the end of the nationwide regulation. Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) thinks the end of the last state corona measures is right. “In Bavaria we have been doing well for a long time by putting personal responsibility in place of the state order,” he said.
In other federal states, the end of the remaining mask requirement fell on approval. “The corona pandemic has demanded a lot from all of us in the past three years,” said the Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer (SPD). “Now it is important to look ahead and learn the lessons from the pandemic in order to be even better prepared for future crises.” An early warning system with wastewater analyzes and an accompanying corona study should be set up in the federal state. In addition, a state reserve of protective equipment for medical staff will be set up in Andernach to avoid bottlenecks.
Hesse’s Health Minister Kai Klose (Greens) described the end of the last nationwide measures as a “watershed”. Corona is now a manageable risk, he said. Klose’s Saarland colleague Magnus Jung (SPD) said that the expiry of the Corona regulation was “a last important step towards normality”. In Thuringia, with the end of the measures, the last mobile vaccination teams will also stop working.
The chairman of the Standing Vaccination Commission, Thomas Mertens, supports the end of the government measures. “It’s definitely the right moment right now,” Mertens told ARD. “The immunity or basic immunity in the population is good and relatively high. And overall, the epidemic situation is also abating at the moment.”
According to the Robert Koch Institute, a total of 38.4 million people nationwide were proven to be infected with Sars-CoV-2 by Thursday, with the number of unreported cases likely to be very high. A total of almost 940,000 infected people came to the hospital, and nationwide around 900 infected people were in intensive care on Thursday. More than 171,000 people have died from contagion since the pandemic began. Most recently, almost 2,500 vaccinations against Corona were administered within one day. A total of 63.6 million people in the country are considered to be basic immunized, which corresponds to a good three quarters of the total population. About 18.4 million are not vaccinated, i.e. a little more than one in five.
* In an earlier version, Friday was mentioned. It is correct that the measures will come to an end at the end of April 7th