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This time it is not just hours of fighting, but days of hard fighting. After many changes and long and controversial final negotiations, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the prime minister of the federal states presented some tangible results Wednesday night on how the fight against Corona’s persistently high numbers should continue. Above all: how you can celebrate Christmas in Germany in this memorable year.
But then it falls apart again. There are no specific statements in the decision document about what rules should be applied in the future at extreme hot spots. And unlike Christmas, for New Year’s Eve it cannot be ruled out that there is a patchwork quilt with different country rules as to how many people you can celebrate with.
After all, the basic line is clear after this Wednesday: in December, Corona’s requirements, which are actually limited to the end of November, will be extended and strengthened again so that we can then celebrate Christmas in a small group at least. as a kind of ray of hope for people.
Contact restraints will be further tightened
“It is a special month ahead of us. And we have taken it into account in our decisions,” says Merkel. However, so far only “partial success” has been achieved. The exponential increase of the crown numbers breaks down. In any case, one could not be satisfied with partial success.
How will things continue in the new year? It’s not clear. In contrast to the outlook a few weeks ago, the federal and state governments are not delivering a real long-term strategy on how to get through the winter. Federal-state rounds will continue to have to make regular adjustments.
First of all, one thing is clear: the leisure and cultural facilities and restaurants will be closed, initially until December 20, and in the end probably beyond the turn of the year. However, this cannot yet be enforced. And above all: Contact restrictions will be further tightened: “private meetings” will be limited to your own home and another home from December 1, but in any case to a maximum of five people, excluding children up to 14 years.
Christmas in your closest circle
But families and close friends should at least be able to celebrate Christmas together, preferably after a few days of voluntary self-isolation. Therefore, the school holidays should start on December 19. Then, as of December 23, meetings “with the closest relatives or friends” should be possible, up to a maximum of ten people, excluding children up to 14 years of age.
But what about New Years Eve? According to the resolution, the exemption should apply “at the most” until January 1. So in the end, will you be able to celebrate in smaller groups in some countries and not others?
But things could diverge beforehand, for example in schools. Here Merkel and her head of the Chancellery, Helge Braun (CDU), were defeated almost across the board by the federal states a week and a half ago. Especially in the school sector, the federal government wanted to intervene with relatively drastic measures, such as cutting classes in half, and thus preventing schools from becoming accumulations of the infection. In the end, the federal states avoided any adjustment.
Now, the federal and state governments have agreed to at least one hotline for access points with a seven-day incidence of more than 200. So school-specific measures “should” be taken, namely alternate or hybrid 8th grade lessons, except for final grades. However, implementation is ultimately the responsibility of the federal states.
Companies also receive aid in December
Innkeepers, hoteliers or gym, movie theater and theater operators will have to swallow a bitter pill to extend the partial shutdown. The federal government is once again digging deep into its coffers: There should also be subsidies for December to make up for lost sales, though not in full. It is expected to cost 17 billion euros. A volume of 14 to 15 billion euros is already expected for the November aid.
It is true that the existing financial resources for other programs are far from exhausted. But the federal government has already incurred huge debts. Debate has already begun on whether federal states should participate in the grants, if the partial lockdown continues into January.
However, the federal and state governments adhere to their general line: Otherwise, the economy should continue to advance as far as possible. The economic consequences of the widespread closure of spring were too dire. However, there are more improvements: In retail, there should be more stringent requirements for larger companies such as department stores. This is the number of customers who are allowed to buy at the same time. The value of 800 square meters plays a decisive role: up to this limit, there can be a maximum of one person in the store for every 10 square meters of sales area. In larger stores, a maximum of one person per 20 square meters is allowed for the area exceeding 800 square meters.
And then the federal and state governments are still struggling with the railroads: primarily with a view to Christmas traffic with normally packed trains, Deutsche Bahn should take additional measures, but without reservation obligation, which some supposedly wanted. Now the “seating capacity” will be significantly increased to allow even more distance between travelers. It is conceivable that Deutsche Bahn uses more trains. At the same time, seat reservations will be restricted. The railroad has to put this into practice.
The federally-owned company is likely to slide further into the red due to the Corona crisis, the occupancy rate in November was only 20-30 percent. The federal government has already decided on a capital injection of five billion euros, but Brussels has not yet approved it. But that shouldn’t be the end of the story.
After hours of hard deliberation Wednesday, that’s the central issue again: Neither party involved knows if and for how long the measures, funds and resolutions will last. Successes with various vaccines offer reason to be confident, but until then it will take a long breath. And winter has just begun. “We need another effort,” says Merkel. (apa, dpa, Christoph Trost, Andreas Hoenig and Jörg Blan)
