It is paradoxical: In some areas of Germany, the corona situation threatens to get out of control at the very moment when herd immunity seemed achievable for a long time.
But the great miracle of the rapid vaccine has stifled an old hat: people act stubbornly, even in this dramatic case.
In addition, the state does not respond with clear obligations where stubbornness endangers the common good.
The health ministers have now taken at least the minimum necessary measures.
It should only have been a little earlier - like a year ago.
Even ministers and state chancelleries evidently fail to make sense of bitter experiences.
This is not a sign of strength.
The same applies to the relationship between the federal government and the federal states.
How often has there been a struggle for skills and conferences?
It should go without saying that countries like Saxony, which are on the verge of overloading the hospitals, should take the initiative and not be accompanied by the question: Are they allowed to do that?
The call for uniformity and a conference of prime ministers is also now ringing out again.
Neither one nor the other is required to do what is necessary.
As long as the relevant passages in the Infection Protection Act apply, the instrument box is available.
You just have to grab it.
The Union-governed countries do not need the SPD for this, nor does the federal government have to direct so that everyone marches in lockstep.
No clear perspective for the countries
The traffic light coalition, which is not yet a coalition, wanted to show the ability to act too quickly by tinkering with this instrument box.
Nothing speaks against the end of the national emergency if the differences in Germany, as they are now, keep growing.
The so-called traffic light key issues paper did not offer the federal states and municipalities the necessary clear perspective.
How far can individual countries and districts go after the end of “national scope” if the situation in them threatens to become untenable?
If a bill to amend the Infection Protection Act cannot clarify this, one cannot shake off the suspicion that it is about something completely different: central government behavior.