Even in the third year of the pandemic, a fatal "stop-and-go" principle characterizes the German corona strategy.
Although the country is already in the middle of a summer wave with rapidly increasing numbers of infections due to a new, even more contagious virus subvariant, the traffic light coalition decides on a risky blind flight.
Instead of continuing to rely on proven instruments to contain the pandemic, she is doing away with the free Corona citizen test.
To offer it for three euros in the future is unwise and negligent.
In view of the already drastically rising cost of living, many citizens will save themselves the trip to the test centers.
Many infections will remain undetected, but their carriers may infect those who are at risk of being unhealthy or older people who have little or no vaccination protection.
There seems to be a pattern that politicians in any coalition cannot or do not want to learn from mistakes in their fight against Corona.
The then CDU Minister of Health, Spahn, abolished the free citizen tests last autumn.
The reasoning at the time: Only through financial pressure on those unwilling to be vaccinated can the vaccination rate be significantly increased.
That was a mistake, as it soon turned out.
The tests became free again, which in many cases prevented the virus from spreading further through detected infections.
As with the coalition wrangling over vaccination and the Infection Protection Act, SPD Health Minister Lauterbach has once again bowed to the will of the FDP.
He himself would have liked to continue offering free citizen tests, but the budgetary situation did not allow it, said Lauterbach after the meeting with Finance Minister Lindner.
Those who, like the FDP, want to support citizens' personal responsibility for their health cannot argue with budgetary discipline.
The economic consequences of an unchecked corona wave in autumn and winter would always be more expensive.