In Berlin, extended test obligations for people without a corona vaccination will apply from next Friday. The Senate decided on Tuesday and implemented a corresponding federal-state agreement in state law. According to this, even more activities, mainly in closed rooms, will only be allowed for vaccinated, convalescent and just tested people in the future.
After the Senate meeting, the Governing Mayor Michael Müller (SPD) also announced that the booster vaccinations against Corona would begin in September – initially for old people and people in need of care. He also announced an extension of the mask requirement in schools by two weeks until at least September 5th.
According to the health administration, the three Gs (vaccinated, recovered, tested), which are already valid in the interiors of restaurants or in the fitness center, will in future be used for participation in events in closed rooms or in outdoor events with more than 100 people present at the same time. They can also be used for meetings in closed rooms with more than 50 people present at the same time, for visits to the hairdresser and other services that are close to the body. This also applies to visits to hospitals, rehabilitation facilities or facilities for the disabled.
When staying overnight in hotels and holiday apartments, unvaccinated persons must also present a negative test and repeat this every third day of their stay. Rapid tests up to 24 hours old, which will no longer be free of charge nationwide from October 11th, or PCR tests are recognized for all of the activities described. Their duration was extended from 24 to 48 hours. The test obligations do not apply to students and participants in religious events such as church services.
“We see how the numbers and the incidences are going up again,” said Müller, referring to the infection rate. The incidence values are particularly high in younger people, but low in older people with vaccinations. The situation in the hospitals is therefore not tense.
[Mehr aus der Hauptstadt. Mehr aus der Region. Mehr zu Politik und Gesellschaft. Und mehr Nützliches für Sie. Das gibt’s nun mit Tagesspiegel Plus: Jetzt 30 Tage kostenlos testen.]
“Nonetheless, we as the Senate must of course react to the rising numbers, react early, also in order to permanently secure the freedoms that we have regained in our coexistence,” said the head of government, explaining the new rules. In the Senate there was an agreement that “we are not in a situation in which we are talking about easing, but neither about extensive tightening or even closings”.
One building block in these efforts is the obligation for students, teachers and other school staff to wear a medical face mask in schools. It was initially valid for the first two weeks after the holidays, but has now been extended for a further 14 days. This is necessary to protect against infection and is therefore important to ensure safe school operations in attendance, explained Müller. “We remain cautious.” The regulation will continue to be continuously reviewed together with experts, added the education administration.
Booster vaccinations from September
Another important component is the booster vaccinations, which Müller says should start in September. Accordingly, the same procedure is planned as for the first vaccinations from the end of December 2020: Mobile teams will therefore go to nursing homes to vaccinate the people there. In addition, older people – initially the group of elders – are invited to vaccination centers. The campaign is currently being carefully prepared. An exact start date has not yet been set.
The SPD politician emphasized that vaccination is the most important point in order to secure regained freedoms in the long term. Berlin has made good progress here, but there is still a lot to be done. So it must be looked at, how one can win younger people even better for the vaccination. There are plans to take older students from school to the vaccination center on a shuttle.
[Behalten Sie den Überblick: Corona in Ihrem Kiez. In unseren Tagesspiegel-Bezirksnewslettern berichten wir über die Krise und die Auswirkungen auf Ihren Bezirk. Kostenlos und kompakt: leute.tagesspiegel.de]
The special vaccination campaigns in shopping centers, in neighborhoods, in parking lots or as part of long vaccination nights are a success, said the head of government. They would have brought an additional 50,000 vaccinations in the past few weeks. There will always be new offers here. S-Bahn boss Peter Buchner announced that he would “offer something as part of an S-Bahn train,” said Müller. He spoke of a creative and spectacular solution.
Information campaign with postcards to all households
“We are counting on being able to make low-threshold offers with many partners in the city.” The Senate is also planning another information campaign with postcards to all households. Because: “It has never been so easy to get vaccinated as it is now.”
The AfD criticized the Senate resolutions as “further corona control”. “Political failure and missing concepts are packed into questionable measures,” said AfD politician Herbert Mohr. “With these rules, the Senate finally loses its credibility. That is not the promised normality. ”A“ compulsory vaccination through the back door ”cannot be made with the AfD. (dpa)
