Mr. District Administrator, in your Ostholstein district, as in the whole of Schleswig-Holstein, the incidences are skyrocketing.

Is there still land in sight?

Jasper von Altenbockum

Responsible editor for domestic politics.

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We have a lot of cases, but that doesn't mean that they're sick, and certainly not that they have to be hospitalized.

The hospitalization rate is 3. That is relatively low.

One can only hope that it stays that way.

Then there is light at the end of the Omicron Tunnel.

Is it still a pandemic or is it already a flu?

Maybe these are the signs that we are sliding from a pandemic to an endemic.

We don't know, nobody can say for sure at the moment.

But hope is also given to us from the scientific side.

We have to wait.

For now we are dealing with the Omicron variant.

Who knows what will come after that.

There are increasing reports that health authorities are giving up on tracing corona cases in view of the mass of cases.

Is that a surrender?

If almost a thousand or even more cases occur every day in a few days, the health authorities are no longer able to process them in time.

We have therefore been concentrating on the vulnerable groups for some time.

However, we consider it necessary to ensure full traceability.

So are quarantine and isolation usually voluntary and uncontrollable?

Everyone is obliged to self-isolate if they test positive or even get sick.

In the case of contact persons, if they have been vaccinated three times, it is correct to omit the quarantine during Omikron times and otherwise shorten it.

In the end, will each health department decide for itself how to proceed with the quarantine?

No, the rule that is now agreed by the federal and state governments for the period from January 15 at the earliest, i.e. no more quarantine for contact persons who have been boosted, applies uniformly.

If it were different, no one could understand it anymore.

It is already difficult for many to keep an eye on all the rules.

There is still a large shortage of staff in the public health service.

Thousands of full-time positions were to be created through the “ÖGD Pact”.

But there is no question of that.

Why?

The federal government's payments to the federal states are limited in time.

However, the federal states promised full financing to the municipalities in August 2020, but did not implement it.

The municipalities don't want to hire staff they don't know how to pay after 2026.

We need a commitment from the federal states beyond 2026.

Otherwise the project will fail.

In the ÖGD pact, the federal government provides four billion euros.

Does that mean the money is not going to drain?

The pact turns into its opposite if the municipalities are left with the much higher permanent costs.

That was precisely the purpose of preventing that.

The federal and state governments would then have decided on a pact that the municipality would be allowed to pay for.

Digital tools don't seem to have helped health departments that much.

What did the Luca app and the Corona warning app bring?