Kretschmann admits errors in the corona policy and slows down any easing
Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) has admitted errors in crisis management in the corona pandemic. “The lockdown light in November was wrong, the restrictions did not go far enough,” said Kretschmann to the “Tagesspiegel am Sonntag”. “We had the announcement from parts of science that that might be enough. But that was a mistake. ”One had to act under pressure in the situation. “This is where mistakes happen, unfortunately that is the case.”
There were also errors in the planning for the vaccinations against the corona virus. “The EU does not seem to have focused enough on the mass production requirement. That hangs in our clothes now. ”The fact is that“ we cannot eliminate the shortage of vaccine by any measures in the first quarter ”. There is currently a lack of production capacity.
Kretschmann suggested a comprehensive error analysis after the pandemic. “When it is by and large over, I would recommend the Bundestag to set up a study commission immediately, preferably in early summer.” This should comb through all the fields and determine the consequences to be drawn from the pandemic. In contrast to committees of inquiry, inquiry commissions in parliaments are made up not only of members of parliament but also of external experts in order to examine issues.
With a view to possible loosening, Kretschmann considers it necessary to first reduce the number of new infections to well below 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days: “Only when we can get well below an incidence of 50 – preferably to half of them we ensure that we have everything under control again, ”said Kretschmann. “From November onwards, we no longer knew where the infections were coming from. We lost control of the pandemic – now we are slowly getting it back, ”said Kretschmann.
Kretschmann admitted that many citizens are at their limit: “People are annoyed because there is no predictability, no reliability. In normal times these are legitimate demands on politics. But now we cannot meet them. ”It is a new situation for everyone. “I can understand the displeasure. But politics is not responsible for the situation. We are just the actors who have to make tough decisions in the fight against the pandemic. The virus is responsible for the crisis, ”he said.
Next Wednesday, the federal and state governments want to decide whether cautious easing is possible. According to estimates, if the lockdown continues to a large extent, the 25 incidence could be reached by the end of February. Therefore, a corresponding extension until the end of February is being discussed between the federal and state governments – also because of the risk of virus mutations.
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