It's true: the foreign minister is not the health minister. In this respect, Heiko Maas cannot qua officially promise the end of the corona restrictions for August if all adults have received a vaccination offer by then. But on the one hand, the former Justice Minister is also an (SPD) politician in the election campaign. On the other hand, the situation today is different from last year: At the moment there is no longer the very big, above all unknown danger that one tries to contain with rather wooden, blanket bans. Today many are already well protected by vaccinations, the incidence is currently in the basement despite the dominant Delta variant, the death rate as well, the situation in the hospitals has eased.
That's why you don't have to pretend the pandemic is over in one fell swoop. It is clear that Great Britain, with its would-be Churchill, who mainly plays banque at the expense of the citizens, cannot be a role model here. But an increase in infections alone, which Health Minister Jens Spahn points out and which is indeed to be expected again soon, cannot easily justify a “business as usual” of the corona restrictions.
It is the restrictions that repeatedly require justification and justification, today more than ever. Everyone has basic rights. All of them. No state of emergency can forfeit it. We have to move away from the quasi-authoritarian metaphors of a "return" of rights or of "privileges" for vaccinated people. The state must make life in freedom possible. If this cannot be achieved at times in great need, because restrictions hit even those who were not guilty of anything, the goal must be to work responsibly towards regaining freedom every day.
Residual risks always remain, and good instruments against Corona must continue to be available. But the exception must not become the rule. Last but not least, the representatives of the people must ensure that the spirit of submission does not spread.