Berlin’s critical infrastructure is increasingly being impaired by staff shortages due to the corona pandemic.
Berlin’s Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) pointed out the current queries for the new traffic light system, with which the Senate wants to keep a better eye on the critical infrastructure from the police and fire brigade to clinics, waterworks and gas supply. “The traffic light is green if there is no impairment,” said Giffey on Friday after a visit to the Vivantes Clinic in Berlin-Friedrichshain. “We no longer have that in any area.”
The traffic light is yellow almost everywhere. One area, the State Office for Refugee Affairs, is already in red, Giffey said. The warning color stands for significant or critical restrictions.
Giffey rated the vaccination rate among employees in critical infrastructure as positive. She is well above average. In Berlin, 76.4 percent of people have received a first vaccination. The goal is 80 percent by the end of the month.
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When it comes to boosters – i.e. refreshers – the preliminary target has already been reached, as Giffey said: “More than half of Berliners have a booster vaccination,” she said. The rate is 50.1 percent, just above the target set by the Senate by the end of January.
Giffey visited the Vivantes Hospital and the Caritas Clinic Maria Heimsuchung in Berlin-Pankow on Friday to get an idea of everyday clinical life during the pandemic.