Expansion of the 2G rule in Berlin: the economy demands more controls – police union has doubts – Berlin

There is approval from the Berlin economy for the Senate decision to expand the 2G rule in Berlin, but also the demand for more controls.

“We have to do everything to reduce the number of corona cases again. A tightening of the contact rules in the direction of 2G is the right way from our point of view, ”said the deputy managing director of the Association of Business Associations in Berlin and Brandenburg (UVB), Alexander Schirp, on Thursday. “To do this, however, the controls must be significantly intensified and the restrictions enforced across the board. Rules that are only written on paper are of no use. “

The Berlin Senate decided on Wednesday to significantly expand the 2G rule. In view of the increased number of corona cases, only vaccinated and convalescent (2G) people should have access to restaurants, cinemas, theaters, museums or galleries from Monday, not those who have been tested. This also applies to leisure facilities such as saunas and thermal baths as well as closed rooms in amusement parks, in the Berlin zoo, zoo or botanical garden.

Schirp said companies could best protect themselves if only vaccinated, convalescent and tested people are allowed to come to work. A nationwide regulation is necessary as soon as possible. “We support the proposal of the Conference of Health Ministers that employers should have the right to information about whether their employees have recovered or have been vaccinated.”

With this information, operational hygiene concepts can be implemented most effectively. “We also need more speed with the booster vaccinations,” demanded Schirp. “With low-threshold vaccination offers and information campaigns, we still see room for improvement.”

Police union: 2G rule cannot be controlled across the board

The police union (GdP) doubts that the expansion of the 2G rule decided by the Senate can be comprehensively controlled in Berlin. “In any case, a clear 2G regulation is better than the previous mix because it creates uniformity,” said the spokesman for the GdP regional district of Berlin, Benjamin Jendro, on Thursday. “But it is also clear that neither our police nor the district regulatory authorities can check this across the board.”

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Corona violations piled up in the districts. “The processing will take several months, because neither the field nor the internal service has been added,” criticized Jendro. “So there will be a maximum of selective samples.”

Above all, it depends on independent controls by the respective operators and organizers and on the sense of responsibility of the Berliners. The union spokesman warned that no politician should come up with the idea of ​​sending teams of hundreds of volunteers to restaurants or beauty salons.

The districts of Neukölln and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg had already announced increased controls on Monday, in some cases in larger operations with the police. Experience shows that until now the regulations have been implemented very differently in bars. Not all of them check their guests’ vaccination records.

In Berlin, for example, organizers or operators of restaurants currently have the choice of whether they only allow access to their interiors to those who have been vaccinated and recovered or whether they also allow those who have been tested. In the case of 2G, there is then no mask requirement. (dpa,Tsp)