In Berlin, only vaccinated or recovered persons are allowed to go to a restaurant, hairdresser, gym, cinema, theater or museum. Even Christmas presents can only be bought by those who are vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19. In many areas, there is also a 2G plus rule, which means additional requirements to keep a social distance or wear masks.
SPD domestic policy expert: “If compliance with the 2G rule is controlled by officers who do not apply it themselves, this regulation becomes unreliable and absurd.”
A peculiar paradox is that policemen and employees of public order and security offices, who are not vaccinated and are not recovered, also control compliance with these regulations. The Berliner Morgenpost reports this, and police confirm it. The daily quotes Tom Schreiber, SPD domestic policy expert, who said: “If compliance with the 2G rule is controlled by officers who do not apply it themselves, this regulation becomes unbelievable and absurd.”
Thilo Cablitz, a spokesman for the Berlin police, says that the regulations in question apply only to owners, employees and customers. Therefore, unvaccinated police officers have also been delegated to carry out checks to ensure compliance with the 2G rule. He stressed that the officers are required to perform coronavirus tests.
The employees of most of Berlin’s public order and security offices who carry out the checks also do not have to be vaccinated or treated for COVID-19. They check compliance with the 2G rule mainly in stores, restaurants and pubs. Officials say that before unvaccinated and non-healed employees can begin work, they must show a negative test result for coronavirus. In the Pankow district, only workers vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 are reportedly sent to check compliance in 2G zones, such as restaurants.
Hundreds of police officers infected with coronavirus and quarantined
Meanwhile, an increasing number of cases of coronavirus infection are being reported among Berlin police employees, an aftermath of the worsening pandemic situation throughout Germany. At the same time, the police assure that the increase in the number of infections has not yet led to a deterioration of operational readiness.
Meanwhile, a council of federal police employee representatives recommends mandatory vaccination for all personnel. In a letter to Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, it states that the police are a “special professional group” that should set an example and be subject to the 2G principle.
The German Police Trade Union (DPolG) in Saxony recently warned that the incidence rate among national police personnel is over 4,000. According to official figures, 587 police officers in Bavaria are currently infected with the coronavirus and another 280 are in quarantine. In Thuringia, 129 people are ill. Among federal police officers, 539 are sick with COVID-19 and 1,263 are under quarantine.
Source: www.berliner-zeitung.de