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The extension of the corona lockdown evokes a divided echo.
While Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) reassures them that financially this can be sustained for a long time and not comparable to the financial crisis of 2008, others warn.
Family Minister Franziska Giffey (SPD) said that home office and homeschooling do not go together.
Berlin's Governing Mayor Michael Müller sees Germany on the home straight, but says that it is not yet possible to say when schools will reopen.
"I have my doubts whether movement restrictions and bans on contact with more than one person outside of one's own household are not going too far," said the President of the German District Assembly, Reinhard Sager (CDU).
And pediatrician president Thomas Fischbach criticized the nationwide planned extension of the school closings.
Federal Finance Minister Scholz (SPD) considers the burden on the state budget from the corona lockdown to be manageable.
“We can hold out for a long time,” said Scholz on Wednesday in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”.
The country has made financial provisions in recent years.
Therefore the necessary assistance could be provided.
Scholz: "Work continues in many factories"
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He assumes that the burden on the state will be less than after the 2008 financial crisis, he added.
At that time the national debt was more than 80 percent of the gross domestic product, this time it would not be more than 70 percent.
Despite the now tightened corona measures, the country is not at a complete standstill.
Work continues in the factories and many offices.
With a view to the meeting of a new cabinet committee on vaccination planned for this Wednesday, Scholz said the most important thing now is to ensure that enough vaccine is produced and available in Germany and Europe.
You have to see where you can help to ensure that production is fast enough.
What is good for health is not always economical for companies.
Because Germany had less than 60 percent national debt at the end of the year before last, you can now take out loans, Scholz said.
After the financial crisis, the debt was more than 80 percent.
Now, according to current calculations, “even if it gets very bad” one will not “far” get over 70 and “get down again quickly”.
Laschet: "These are painful measures"
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NRW Prime Minister Laschet called on citizens to support the tougher lockdown measures.
“These are painful measures.
We live in a time in which such measures are necessary, ”said the CDU politician on Tuesday evening after the conference of the heads of government of the federal states with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU).
"Let's get through these weeks together when the vaccine has not yet arrived everywhere and the incidence rates are high," he appealed.
The restrictions are "only justifiable in this form if the measure is limited in time, tied to clear conditions and, above all, combined with a binding strategy for a long-term perspective," warns the parliamentary group leader of the SPD in NRW, Thomas Kutschaty.
Such encroachments on fundamental rights should not only be ordered through an ordinance, but the state parliament as legislator must advise here.
Giffey: Homeschooling and home office together are difficult
Federal Family Minister Giffey (SPD), on the other hand, wants a return to school and daycare operations as quickly as possible so as not to burden the families for too long.
“Home office and homeschooling don't go together,” she said on Deutschlandfunk.
Therefore, a clear restriction to January has now been decided.
“And I think it has to stay that way.” Such burdens for children and families must not be done over a longer period of time.
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At the same time, Giffey defended the extension of the corona lockdown.
In order for the situation to improve, "then we have to come to significant reductions in contact everywhere, including in the private sphere."
Berlin's Governing Mayor Müller (SPD) sees Germany on the right course.
"We are now on the home straight to really achieve our goals, in combination with the vaccination strategy," he said in the ARD "Morgenmagazin".
In his view, predictions about the opening of schools in the Corona crisis are still hardly possible.
"Our numbers do not yet allow us to go to face-to-face classes again," said Müller.
Only in about ten days will it be possible to say whether primary school students or special age groups will be able to attend classes again from January 18.
The chairman of the Prime Minister's Conference admitted that if the number of infections rose in the fall, "perhaps a week or two earlier", tougher measures could have been decided.
In the meantime, however, one can see very clearly that the infections and incidences are falling.
"Unfortunately, we just haven't got enough relief in our hospitals," said Müller.
The managing director of the German Association of Cities and Towns, Gerd Landsberg, told the "Rheinische Post" that it was questionable how the 15-kilometer rule could be implemented.
Such a restricted range of motion is hardly controllable.
District Assembly President Sager told the newspapers of the Funke media group that the restrictions on movement “put large parts of the population in trouble, and we depend on them to participate”.
In rural areas in particular, restrictions on freedom of movement within a radius of 15 kilometers had a particular effect.
In the case of schools, on the other hand, it must be possible "by February at the latest, if possible at least in counties with an incidence of less than 100, to open earlier".
"The younger the children, the more important face-to-face teaching"
Pediatrician President Fischbach told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”: “The younger the children are, the more important face-to-face teaching is.
For children up to ten years of age, who have been shown not to play a decisive role in the pandemic, daycare centers and schools must reopen as quickly as possible while observing appropriate hygiene rules, at least in those areas where the incidence values are not in the deep red. ”In contrast to daycare and elementary school children The president of the professional association of paediatricians admitted that the situation is among young people who are almost as infectious as adults: "You have to be careful here, you need hybrid models, online lessons and so on."
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The federal and state governments agreed on Tuesday to extend the lockdown that has been in effect since mid-December, which includes the
closure
of
schools, daycare centers, cultural and leisure facilities, restaurants
and large parts of the
retail sector
, until January 31, and in Sharpen parts.
Members of a household object can look only with
a
not living in the household
meet person
.
People in regions where the number of infections is more than 200 per 100,000 inhabitants within a week should only
move
within a radius of
15 kilometers
from their place of residence.
The Greens are calling for the corona vaccination campaign to be implemented more quickly in Germany.
“As a doctor, I cannot understand at all how, in this dramatic situation, we did not manage to completely inoculate the 1.3 million vaccine doses that have been in the country since December,” said the Green health politician Janosch Dahmen on ARD - "Morning Magazine".
So far, only just under 25 percent of the available amount of vaccine has been administered.
“That's not enough at all.
Given the mutation from England, it's a race against time, ”said Dahmen.