Bans on going out, compulsory masks outdoors and the closure of children’s playgrounds – during the corona pandemic, the state is fighting the spread of the virus with sometimes drastic rules. From today’s perspective, Health Minister Lauterbach considers some of the measures to be a mistake.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach has criticized mistakes in the fight against the corona pandemic. There was a wrong focus on reducing contacts, for example, said the SPD politician on ZDF on Wednesday evening. Other countries have severely reduced contacts in companies. “We have greatly reduced the contacts with the children, especially with the daycare children and school children.” You shouldn’t repeat that, but at the time it was not so clear due to the study situation how contagious children were.
“We then did things better afterwards,” said Lauterbach, who has been Health Minister since December 2021. Children were regularly tested and schools remained open. Other rules were also exaggerated. “These draconian measures – bans on going out, wearing masks in the open air, closing off children’s playgrounds outside – these were things that would no longer be done today,” says Lauterbach. “Especially in Bavaria, a lot was done that wasn’t scientifically proven.” In some studies, a different assessment was also subsequently made.
Compared to other countries with a similarly old population, Germany came through the pandemic well. “We didn’t have to complain about so many deaths. We didn’t have that many infections either,” said Lauterbach. “There have been mistakes, but overall we’ve fared better than many countries with similar problems.”
