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Thursday 12 November 2020
The Chancellor, the Minister of Health and the Robert Koch Institute agree: there is no quick end in sight to the crown’s restrictions. The head of the Bavarian country proposes a relaxation measure. A virologist disagrees.
Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder only wants to relax the crown’s measures when the number of infections has dropped significantly. “Our goal should be to get below the seven-day incidence of 50,” the CSU politician told “Münchner Merkur.” According to the Robert Koch Institute, Bavaria’s value is 178.9, nationally at 138.9 (at midnight on Thursday). It indicates how many new infections there were for every 100,000 people in the last seven days.
“If we lower the numbers a bit and separate too early, we could fall into a constant alternation between blocking and opening,” Söder warned. “That would hardly be understandable to people.” It left open if the partial blockade that applies to November should be extended in December. “We have to get on with that now. Then we’ll see if four weeks is enough.” On Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the prime ministers of the federal states want to discuss the situation again at a Corona summit.
According to the MDR, virologist Alexander Kekulé, for his part, opposes legally stipulating the value of seven days of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants. “The number 50 was an improvised value. It was politically negotiated at the beginning of the corona pandemic,” Kekulé says, according to the station in a podcast. “I don’t think it makes any sense to set the incidence value in stone now and set it for all future pandemics and even make it law.” It makes more sense to look at what is happening more flexibly and then name those factors.
The crown situation in Germany remains tense. The infection rate continues to rise across the country, clinics increasingly reporting bottlenecks, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Thursday. “We have to pinch our buttocks for a few more months,” announced RKI boss Lothar Wieler.
Merkel expects “difficult winter months”
The heads of the federal government had little hope that after the close of November there could soon be larger and more sociable groups again. Health Minister Jens Spahn said on rbb-Inforadio that events with more than 10 to 15 people, such as Christmas parties, “will not see more this winter.” Merkel also put the population in the mood for the “difficult winter months.” In a virtual conversation with the students, he spread a cautious optimism: “We hope that when we are in November we will see the light again at the end of the tunnel.”
In the morning, the RKI registered nearly 22,000 new corona cases across the country, nearly 3,400 more than the day before. Even if the number of new infections has risen less sharply recently, the deliberations of the chancellor and prime minister on Monday are unlikely to refer to any significant relaxation. Two weeks ago, the round decided on a partial lockdown, which has been in effect since November 2. After that, restaurants and other leisure facilities must remain closed until the end of the month, hotels cannot accommodate tourists.
Berlin Health Senator Dilek Kalayci did not promise a quick end to the restrictions. There is “absolutely no reason to give the go-ahead,” said the SPD politician. “The number of new infections remains alarmingly high.” To reduce the risk of infection in family Christmas celebrations, the start of the Christmas holidays in North Rhine-Westphalia schools will be brought forward two weeks. However, other federal states such as Saxony and Lower Saxony do not want to follow this approach, especially out of consideration for parents. “So we have a real problem with care,” said Saxon education minister Christian Piwarz of the CDU.
According to the RKI, the possible effects of the current partial block cannot yet be measured. But even after the current restrictions came to an end, life could not continue as usual, Wieler warned. “The measures will be with us for a long time, even if an effective vaccine might be available for the foreseeable future.” Spahn also emphasized: Although the number of infections decreases, “that does not mean that from December or January things can really start again everywhere with weddings or Christmas parties as if nothing had happened.” The situation requires patience. “This virus has very long slip marks.”
Scholz promises more corona help
To cushion the economic consequences of the partial lockdown, SPD Finance Minister Olaf Scholz announced an increase in aid in November. It would surely be more than the ten billion euros discussed so far, the vice chancellor said. The lone self-employed must receive an advance of up to 5,000 euros, companies of up to 10,000 euros.
The federal government had promised subsidies for restaurants or artists affected by officially ordered closures. However, after a court ruling, the fitness studios in Bavaria can reopen. The Bavarian Administrative Court ruled that full closure was not proportionate. The Federal Constitutional Court, for its part, rejected the urgent request for a Bavarian movie theater with a restaurant. The constitutional complaint is not obviously unfounded, but requires a detailed examination. The Karlsruhe judges rejected a provisional suspension of the rules, citing serious consequences.
Spahn: If necessary, the infected doctors and nurses have to work
Meanwhile, the number of corona cases treated in intensive care in Germany continues to rise. The German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) now had 3,186 Covid patients in the intensive care unit. That’s a high since the pandemic began. According to RKI chief Wieler, clinics are increasingly reporting bottlenecks, especially among medical staff, some of whom are also ill. “Patients may no longer be able to receive optimal care everywhere.”
Health Minister Spahn said that, if necessary, employees of clinics or nursing homes who test positive for the virus would also have to work. The best way is for an infected person and the people who were in contact with him to remain in quarantine, he said on German Care Day in Berlin. “If (…) due to isolation and quarantine measures so many are no longer there, in the hospital, in the doctor’s office, in the care center, that the supply collapses, we must see what is the second best after best possible solution, “said the minister. Then it might be necessary for contact persons to continue working with daily tests and FFP2 masks. The “relapse relapse position” is “to allow those who tested positive to also work with very special protective measures.”
