The Hessian state government does not want to wait for the new Federal Infection Protection Act to provide information about the corona rules for the coming weeks.
This Saturday, March 19, the currently applicable regulations of the federal law expire.
However, the new version will probably not be passed in the Federal Council until Friday.
The federal law is the legal basis for all corona protection measures in the federal states.
"Because the federal government disagrees and therefore a new regulation has to be made practically at the last second before all the rules expire, we still don't know what specific protective measures we can take in Hesse from next week," said Prime Minister Volker Bouffier on Tuesday in Wiesbaden .
"This procedure is unspeakable and that is why all countries reject it."
However, people wanted to know what was going on, said the Prime Minister.
In order to ensure planning security, the state government intends to extend the existing protective measures until April 2nd - provided that the new Federal Infection Protection Act still allows this.
The draft of the new version of the federal law provides for a transition phase that provides for a gradual relaxation of the corona rules.
If it is passed in this way, Hesse wants to extend the existing Corona Protection Ordinance from March 20th to April 2nd.
Access regulations (3G, 2G and 2-G-plus) should remain valid during this period.
The obligation to wear a mask should then remain in place.
Distance and hygiene concepts were also maintained.
At schools, students should continue to test themselves regularly and wear masks outside of the classroom.
In this phase until April 2nd, however, contact restrictions for the unvaccinated would be lifted.
There should then no longer be any capacity restrictions for events and in discos.
Folk festivals and similar events no longer have to be approved in terms of infection law.
It will then no longer be possible to collect contact data.
Following this transition phase, i.e. from April 3rd, the current draft of the Federal Infection Protection Act provides that only so-called basic protection measures would be possible, in order to protect vulnerable groups in particular.
According to Bouffier, masks will then only be compulsory in hospitals, old people’s and nursing homes, in nursing services and on buses and trains.
A test obligation should then only exist in schools, hospitals and old people’s and nursing homes.
Further restrictions are then only possible after a prior decision by the state parliament or in proven hotspots.
However, the federal bill does not specify what makes a region a hotspot.
So far, there has only been talk of the spread of a dangerous virus variant or an impending corona-related overload in hospitals, numbers are not given.
The Bundestag will discuss the Federal Infection Protection Act in its first reading this Wednesday.
It is to be adopted on Friday, and the Federal Council is to deal with it on the same day.
Only then can corresponding binding regulations be adopted in the federal states.
The Hessian state government then wants to discuss this in a cabinet meeting.