In the third year of the pandemic, almost everything feels like that carefree summer before Corona that Karl Lauterbach predicted when he was just a scientist, MP and permanent guest on talk shows.
Beer gardens, cafés and shopping streets are full, festivals and football games are taking place again with tens of thousands of spectators without masks and distance.
But as the top virus fighter with a mixed record so far, the SPD politician hopefully knows that he has to prepare better for the fall than his CDU predecessor Jens Spahn.
This time, politicians must not be surprised by another wave of corona and a possibly mutated and more contagious variant of the virus.
The rapidly increasing number of infections in Portugal due to a subvariant of Omikron with a vaccination rate that is very high, unlike here, are a warning signal.
If the demands of the prime minister, city council, doctors' associations and teachers' unions are implemented in good time, the country could be better prepared this time.
This includes the continued operation of test sites and vaccination centers despite the current low demand, sufficient adapted vaccines and a vaccination campaign, including among schoolchildren.
And the Infection Protection Act should not be changed at the last minute so that corona protection rules can take effect again quickly in an emergency.