Cities and doctors, business and associations are calling for a corona strategy for the fall

NRW in the pandemic
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Cities, doctors and business are calling for a corona strategy for the fall

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Between fallen leaves the fallen mask. (Iconic image) When the next corona wave rolls in autumn, the state of NRW should be prepared.
Photo: dpa/Bernd Thissen

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Düsseldorf The resolutions of the federal-state round of action in the fall are too vague for many associations, organizations and the NRW Ministry of Health. They call for concrete steps before the next wave of the pandemic arrives.

The number of people infected with corona rose again on Friday. The weekly incidence increased for the third day in a row and is now 277.6 in NRW. The day before, the prime ministers of the federal states had discussed measures for the fall. There should therefore no longer be nationwide closures of schools and daycare centers. Before deciding on possible further protection requirements such as mask requirements, however, expert assessments should be awaited.

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The North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Health finds that it is positive that the federal government wants to develop a comprehensive vaccination strategy. “In this regard, the federal states need timely, reliable information from the federal government for their own planning,” said a spokesman for Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU). NRW has already created the conditions to start up the vaccination process again at short notice if necessary. All districts and urban districts are able to carry out at least 250,000 vaccinations a week within 14 days – in addition to medical practices and company doctors.

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The general manager of the NRW City Council, Helmut Dedy, also warned to hurry: “We need clarity about the vaccination strategy, the test strategy and the corona protection measures in autumn faster and more binding than in the federal-state decision. Please finally decide.” Almost all experts were expecting the next wave of corona, and important instruments for combating the pandemic were abolished in the spring. In the event that the infection situation worsens again or new dangerous virus variants spread by leaps and bounds, one must be prepared – for example with a mask requirement in retail and indoors or with 3G or 2G rules.

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The doers on site in the municipalities need advance notice, for example in the vaccination centers. “Employment contracts or rental contracts for premises cannot be switched on and off at the push of a button. Above all, medical staff is scarce and not available on an ad hoc basis in the fall,” says Dedy. From the point of view of the medical officers, it is important to continue to vaccinate and boost as many people as possible and to expand the capacities of the public health service at high pressure – in terms of personnel and technology, demanded their association chairman Johannes Nießen.

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For the time being, it remains unclear how school lessons are to be maintained in the event of a massive increase in the number of cases. “In the past two years, NRW has gained experience with the different teaching and school operating models in the corona pandemic, as well as with various hygiene and infection protection measures that could be revised and used again if this were necessary,” says NRW -Ministry of Education. However, it will depend on the legal regulations that will then apply nationwide which steps may be taken at all.

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The SPD is too comfortable. The prospective coalition partners of the coming state government, the CDU and the Greens, would have to set the course to make the lessons winter-proof, said the SPD spokesman for education policy in the Düsseldorf state parliament, Jochen Ott. “This includes, among other things, a concept for the integration of extracurricular learning locations and other pedagogical staff in order to be able to form smaller learning groups. Just calling for Berlin is simply not enough.”

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Just like the schools, the day-care centers should also remain open. “Basically, we very much welcome the fact that this course is being maintained and that the parents want to offer a bit of stability with it,” says Daniela Heimann from the State Parents’ Advisory Board of North Rhine-Westphalia. In order to be able to keep such promises, however, the shortage of skilled workers in the facilities would have to be eliminated. “The new state government must now tackle this issue urgently and before the fall,” she demanded.

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Business enterprises are primarily concerned about new restrictions that could slow companies down again. “Renewed serious restrictions on economic life or even closures would be fatal. Interruptions in supply chains and school closures must be avoided at all costs,” said Johannes Pöttering, Managing Director of Unternehmer NRW. It is important to develop targeted and “reasonable” measures that offer companies planning security and reliability. The head of the German Trade Union Confederation in North Rhine-Westphalia, Anja Weber, in turn called for the protection of people in the workplace – both against infection and against overload. “That means reviving the vaccination campaign now and not letting up on health protection in the companies either.”

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The FDP in the state parliament insists above all on a factual basis for new measures. “For us it is clear: If there is no extensive and precise data, fundamental rights must not be restricted across the board or in reserve,” said the parliamentary group leader Henning Höne. “We welcome the statement by the Prime Ministers’ Conference that further digitization steps are still required to provide the data that is absolutely necessary to assess the course of infection. The entire country has been waiting for this for far too long.”

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Massive criticism comes from the social association VdK. “I have no understanding that we are now abolishing the mask requirement in retirement homes without any need,” said its chairman Horst Vöge. “If we become careless, we will have to react in the fall with radical measures, i.e. the withdrawal of far-reaching civil liberties.”

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