Partial closure at Christmas? This will be Corona December

The second corona wave is significantly worse than the spring wave. Therefore, the restrictions that expire at the end of November are likely to be extended. Countries are targeting December 20. Whats Next?

The federal states want to extend the partial blockade until December 20 due to the tense situation in the crown. This stems from a first draft by the chairman of the heads of state, the mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller (SPD), for the federal-state summit on Wednesday. The document available for t-online also considers further tightening of contact restrictions. Then there should be relaxation during the holidays. There is a nationwide ban on firecrackers for New Year’s Eve.

The actual situation:

Since the beginning of November, all cultural and leisure offers in Germany have been suspended, bars, cafes and restaurants are closed. The partial lock should initially apply until the end of the month. After a rapid increase in October and early November, the number of new infections stabilized at a high level. The expected decline after the entry into force of the partial lockdown cannot be clearly seen, as can be seen from Sunday’s figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

On Sunday, the RKI reported 15,741 cases that were reported by health authorities within 24 hours. On Sunday a week ago, the number was 16,947. The peak was reached on Friday with 23,648 cases. According to data from the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, the number of corona patients in the intensive care unit continues to increase, but less recently.

What does that mean …?

For the next few weeks:

Without an extension, the restrictions would have to expire at the end of November. Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) had spoken at the “Bild am Sonntag” before an extension of “definitely two or more three weeks”. In the draft of the proposed resolution of the federal states, it is now given as the date December 20. That would be until shortly before Christmas.

For Christmas:

Depending on the country, the contact restrictions will be relaxed a bit during the Christmas holidays. Then meetings of a household with non-household or non-household members of the household should be possible up to a maximum of 5 or 10 persons. Children up to 14 years old are excluded.

Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD) told “Bild”: “Christmas and New Year’s Eve, people should be able to meet their loved ones.” Previously, Chancellor Helge Braun had told the Germany publishing network (RND): “I can’t imagine grandparents not celebrating at Christmas.

In a Forsa poll on behalf of Kaufmännische Krankenkasse (KKH), 41 percent of the around 1,000 respondents expressed concern about having to celebrate the festival in a small group or just because of the pandemic. CDU presidential candidate Friedrich Merz told “Tagesspiegel”: “It can be said in mid-November that Christmas can take place in families.”

For New Years Eve:

At the beginning of the year, the federal states plan to ban firecrackers. According to the draft resolution, “the sale, purchase and lighting of fireworks should be prohibited.” This should serve in particular to “relieve emergency and auxiliary personnel, keep health system capacities free and avoid larger groups.”

Prime Minister Söder had previously raised a ban on firecrackers or alcohol in larger venues for New Year’s Eve, but rejected a blanket ban on firecrackers. Merz, the former leader of the Union faction, said in view of the gatherings of people at New Year’s parties: can take place. “

For schools:

The education ministers of the federal states insist on keeping them open, but advocate exceptions, according to information from the news portal “ThePioneer” and the German press agency. According to a decision taken on Friday, schools particularly affected from the eleventh grade in hotspot areas with a large number of infections should be able to switch to “continuous classroom teaching” in smaller study groups, that is, a change in learning at school and at home. In a second step, this is also planned for the lower grades of secondary schools. In any case, the final classes must remain at the school. The countries of the Union want something similar: in the Corona hotspots with a seven-day incidence of more than 200, there should be lessons of change from the seventh grade.

“To really break the chains of infection and at the same time remain practical, that’s the task,” Spahn told the RND. Specifically, he suggested that if an infection occurs, the affected class should be sent to home isolation immediately. Until now, this has not been the case in some cases or only in people sitting next to the infected person. “After the negative rapid tests on the fifth day, the students were able to go back to school,” Spahn said.

Health Minister Jens Spahn has spoken out in favor of immediately sending affected classes to quarantine at home in case of corona infections in schools. (Source: dpa)

The former attitude of federal states that schools are generally not drivers of the pandemic “is no longer sustainable,” said the director of the Düsseldorf virological university institute, Jörg Timm, of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung”. Younger children are less likely to be infected with the virus, but they could pass it on. Children from the age of twelve are “as contagious as adults.”

According to the will of the education ministers, there should be more testing in schools particularly affected by Corona. After a vaccination has been approved, school personnel should receive a vaccination offer as a matter of priority.

For individual countries:

According to the will of the countries of the Union, according to “Bild”, countries and districts with less than 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants should have the opportunity to suspend the corona measures in seven days (“opt-out rule”). Currently only Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and around two dozen districts could benefit from this.

For entrepreneurs:

Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) wants to continue paying aid to companies that have to close due to crown restrictions, possibly in December. “If the restrictions are extended, it is clear to me that financial support from the industries directly affected is also necessary,” said Scholz of “Bild am Sonntag”.