New Corona rules in Hesse: Of freedom and responsibility

The time of great excitement is over.

Luckily, when new corona rules are announced for the state, not everyone in Hessen holds their breath.

Although far too many people are still infected with the corona virus every day, there is no (any longer) evidence of the healthcare system being overwhelmed.

That's the whole point.

The serious measures to restrict individual freedoms were only justified as long as this was to be feared.

Now the state government is – rightly so – putting the principle of self-responsibility in the foreground.

The quarantine period will be reduced to five days, and compulsory testing in schools will no longer apply from next Monday.

Hygiene, distance, mask: Not only Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) still thinks this makes sense, even if the mask has now become voluntary with a few exceptions, for example in local public transport.

The clever use their opportunities

Be careful and live with Corona - the message from Wiesbaden can be summarized with these keywords.

And so things remain ambivalent.

On the one hand, nobody knows how the pandemic will develop, which is why it has become unimaginable in the current situation to continue depriving citizens of their freedoms.

On the other hand, with the current Infection Protection Act, the countries have been deprived of the opportunity to react quickly and comprehensively to a changing situation.

And the Federal Ministry of Health is not a haven of reassuringly reliable communication in the situation either.

So it remains that on this day the appearance of the Prime Minister was not the most important appointment of the state government, but that of Health Minister Kai Klose (Greens) on Immunology Day.

There Klose again promoted the still useful vaccination against Corona.

Even if the climate is completely poisoned for this, it is and remains the best protection against a serious infection.

This is important because those who have experienced infection with the Omicron variant know that this too can be anything but amusement taxable.

It is still the case that those who have not been vaccinated should take advantage of these offers now so that society can get through next autumn and winter with as few further restrictions as possible.

Because that's what it's all about: nobody wants the vaccine for the sake of the vaccine and the mask for the sake of the mask.

Nobody liked restrictions.

It was always about protection - against deaths, against overburdening the health system.

Of course it would be nicer if the vaccinations were even more effective.

But it's good that they exist at all.

Smart people take advantage of this.

The principle of self-responsibility applies.

Even the biggest critics of all corona measures always wanted to see that in the foreground.