Berlin (dpa) – Fewer and fewer German states want to use the seven-day incidence rate of coronavirus infections, the country’s main indicator for determining coronavirus policy, as the sole factor in assessing the pandemic situation, a dpa survey has found.

At a meeting on Tuesday, the country’s state premiers could not find agreement on common new parameters that could serve as a basis for new restrictions or relaxations, opening the way for the 16 states to go their own way when it comes to which factors should be considered.

Baden-Wuerttemberg then decided to remove the seven-day rate from its coronavirus ordinance altogether, meaning everyone there will be able to participate in social life regardless of how infections develop – provided they have been vaccinated, recovered or tested negative.

According to a survey conducted by dpa, numerous state governments have also announced that they would use other criteria in the future.

However, the final “formula for happiness,” as Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Soeder described it, has yet to be found.

The number of coronavirus patients in the hospitals seems to be largely undisputed as an additional criterion, and some states have already been incorporating this into their assessments for a while.

Hospital admissions, the number of coronavirus patients in intensive care units and vaccination rates are other criteria being considered.

The federal Health Ministry has acknowledged that the incidence rate was “an important factor, but not the sole one,” and has welcomed the states’ desire to include other factors in their assessments.

As of Saturday, the seven-day incidence rate was 32.7, according to Germany’s agency for disease control and prevention, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). A week ago, that figure was recorded at 21.2.