The first relaxations have been decided, but not only Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) is urging caution. Maybrit Illner asked her guests on ZDF yesterday evening: Could Germany afford do more? Are we being brave or risky?

The Guests

Malu Dreyer defended the opening of an outlet centre in Zweibrücken as a prelude: “We are implementing the decisions that we have discussed together in detail”, said the head of government of Rhineland-Palatinate. She said she had acted with the greatest sense of responsibility.

Herbert Diess attested the same for himself and his industry. “We have prepared ourselves very well for the transition”, said the VW boss, whose plants are gradually starting up again. He says they would have been able to hold out for another two or three weeks, but in his eyes it is important that the economy gets going again, “because we can't keep this up indefinitely.”

It is exactly these few weeks more that Nguyen-Kim would like to order for Germans. “If we could now keep the restrictions in place for a few more weeks and reduce the number of cases even further, we would gain freedom until the end of the epidemic”, she said, because the epidemic will last “unfortunately another year or more.”

These liberties would all be lost, however, if you let go too soon now. “It's like promising a child a marshmallow if they want one right away, or two if they can wait 15 minutes”, she said, adding, “I hope we can wait 15 minutes.” Those who think that everything is now gradually moving towards normality, risk “constant renewed outbreaks” and new lockdowns. "We are only at the beginning and we can see that the current lockdown is already pushing us to our limits”, she complained. If there were further outbreaks later in the year, the damage would be much greater, also for the economy.

Virologist Hendrik Streeck, who is investigating the outbreak and the course of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Heinsberg district with a team of 70 people, sees things differently: “Of course it is possible that we will have a second or third wave of infection”, said the Bonn professor. However, he does not assume that this will happen unless all measures are completely shut down.

Streeck also recalls the progress made: There was no surge in deaths over Easter, nor have hospital capacities been exceeded. "And we have all taken a crash course in hygiene," he said, which makes perfect sense because he recommended: "We have to start living with the virus."

The virus knows no borders or stop signs: "We are going have to live with in the same way we live with all the other endemic corona viruses, which continually cause problems in winter." He thinks it is “naive to believe that you can draw a border around Germany” and that what happens in Belgium or Austria will not cross the border. Our “still ignorant immune systems” would do better to have to learn how to deal with it.

Cem Özdemir, who himself was ill with a mild form of Covid-19, is in favour of caution and is against blanket decisions. At the same time, the Green MEP pointed out that the “suffering is greater for people who have no cushion”. “What we have achieved, we have achieved together at great sacrifice, and this must not be jeopardised now”, he thinks, and in this respect the Chancellor is right in her warning not to take unnecessary risks.

The important thing is that everyone goes about things with the greatest possible caution. He recommends that politicians for whom things are not moving quickly enough, should take it out on something and start a competition to see who can create the cleanest schools. He criticised unnamed political colleagues as "frontmen", who should not give the impression that everything is not so bad. This could lead to carelessness in the population. For children from disadvantaged families in particular, it is important to continue step by step and to open up everyday life carefully.

(Original text; Julica Jungehülsing, translaton John Chandler)