Dispute in Germany over abolition of coronavirus measures

BERLIN

Most Germans oppose an immediate abolition of all remaining measures to stem the spread of coronavirus, according to a new survey by YouGov.

According to the figures, 52% of the public is against an immediate nationwide end to the mandatory wearing of masks on public transport. 60% want to retain the minimum five-day isolation requirement for infected people, and 64% say that the pandemic is not yet over for them.

The findings come just after Germany’s best-known German coronavirus expert, Christian Drosten, the chief of virology at Berlin's Charite hospital, declared the pandemic over.

On Monday, Drosten told daily Tagesspiegel: "We are experiencing the first endemic wave with Sars-Cov-2 this winter, in my estimation, the pandemic is thus over."

But despite his assessment, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach was cautious about an immediate end to COVID-19 measures.

Speaking to public broadcaster ZDF on Tuesday, Lauterbach said, "I wonder if it really comes down to a few weeks now, when we're in such a critical situation."

"After three years of pandemic, a few weeks do not matter," he said, adding that it would be better to wait until the current winter wave is over before lifting measures.

But not everyone in the federal government seems to share Lauterbach's view. Voicing solidarity with Drosten’s statement, German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann called for an end to the latest protective measures.

"Christian Drosten was among the most cautious scientists during the pandemic. Now his finding is: the pandemic is over. We are in an endemic state," Bushman wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. He added: "As a political consequence, we should end the last corona protection measures."

Criticism of Lauterbach also came from legal expert Volker Boehme-Nessler, a professor at the University of Oldenburg, who branded Lauterbach's statements "impudence." Saying Lauterbach’s claim boils down to “we had fundamental right encroachments for so long, what’s a few weeks more?” Boehme-Nessler told daily Bild: “That is however completely wrong, a constitutional blow."

Josef Franz Lindner, a professor of public and medical law at the University of Augsburg, also told the daily: "Lauterbach's 'few weeks thesis' is indefensible from a constitutional point of view. A measure that can no longer be justified must be repealed immediately, not in a few weeks or months."