On Friday afternoon, the new set of measures were presented to the Chamber’s health commission. Opposition parties welcomed the changes, which lead commission president Mars Di Bartolomeo to conclude that the discussions were constructive.
One of the more controversial changes is that auto-tests will no longer be valid in the hospitality sector after midnight. Should people violate this rule, they will have to pay a fine of up to €6,000. Di Bartolomeo commented: “Responsibility for respecting the measure will reside with people, not with business owners.”
However, the law still requires bar and restaurant owners to conduct a check of people’s tests after midnight. If they fail to do so completely, they will also be fined. Di Bartolomeo underlined: “We are not looking to annoy anyone, but unfortunately, the past few days have shown that there are many parties where the rules are not being followed. These events still represent the greatest infection risk.”
The message from the Chamber is clear: vaccines, PCR tests, as well as certified rapid tests are all more reliable and publicly accessible.
Opposition party CSV laments that now all businesses are being punished due to a few bad apples. MP Claude Wiseler explained: “We would have hoped to see concrete measures against those not respecting the rules instead of punishing everyone together.”
The Pirate Party welcomes the proposed changes, but finds it questionable that rapid tests are awarded such a high status. MP Marc Goergen noted: “We think that rapid tests are most prone to faulty results and therefore the biggest risk for allowing the virus into unwanted locations. Furthermore, the validity of 48 hours is too long, a lot can happen in that time.”
One thing that opposition parties saw as counterproductive is the introduction of the Covid Check system for private people, given that it is almost impossible to monitor.
