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Bavaria and Saxony are lobbying for even stricter requirements across the country to control the corona pandemic. Medical representatives also consider this to be urgently necessary to avoid overloading the health system. The federal and state governments can again discuss a joint approach.
According to Lower Saxony Prime Minister Stefan Weil (SPD), the federal and state governments want to advise on the tightening of crown restrictions in the coming days. As Weil said Thursday in the state parliament in Hannover, the federal and state governments will likely meet again at the weekend to deliberate further.
Weil also announced that Lower Saxony will withdraw the planned Corona easing during Christmas and the turn of the year. The current contact restrictions to a maximum of five people from two households will only be extended to 10 family members plus children under the age of 14 from December 24-26. Parents can exempt their children from face-to-face lessons in the next week so that fewer children attend classes.
Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder has spoken out in favor of a “complete lockdown” from Christmas to January 10. “Just shut down everything from stores to company vacations at many companies. If everyone participated, it would be great. Then we would have just under three weeks in which we could simply cut back on contacts. A better time than this between Christmas and January 10 will not be found anywhere in the year, ”said the head of CSU.
The Prime Minister of Saxony, Kretschmer, expressed the hope of reaching common results with the other countries, but referred to the measures already decided in the Free State. “We have now decided on our Saxon route and will follow it consistently,” Kretschmer said. In the Free State, schools, kindergartens, after-school care centers and many stores will close as of next Monday. Grocery stores and basic necessities stores must remain open. Keeping shops, schools and nurseries open: “That won’t have this effect,” Kretschmer said.
The state has become the biggest focus of the pandemic in Germany. In Bavaria, which also has an above-average number of infections compared to the federal states, stricter rules such as exit restrictions, alcohol bans in city centers and curfews in cities have been implemented since Wednesday. critical points.
Chancellor’s emotional appeal
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) had spoken in the Bundestag on Wednesday in an emotional call again for a tougher blockade. “The number of contacts is too high. The reduction of contacts is not enough “, the chancellor warned in her speech.
“If we have too many contacts now before Christmas and it was the last Christmas with the grandparents, then we will have missed something, we should not do that.” Earlier, Merkel had repeatedly lobbied for stricter measures across the country in the fight against the corona pandemic.
According to the Chancellor’s will, shops must close after Christmas until at least January 10, distance learning must take place, and hotels must remain closed. Additionally, the nationwide Christmas holidays should begin on December 16. The Chancellor is largely following the recommendations of the Leopoldina National Academy, which recommended a tough national shutdown on Tuesday, albeit as of December 24.
Another proponent of stricter measures is NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU): because Germany is “in a dramatic situation”, it is necessary to follow the recommendations of the National Academy.
Specifically, Laschet is in favor of a two-week lockdown starting December 27 to reduce the number of new corona infections.
However, the Prime Minister of Bavaria, Markus Söder, does not want to withdraw the planned relaxation of contact restrictions for Christmas for his state. Christmas is the “feast of hope and family”, no one should be alone at Christmas. However, the Bavarian state government has canceled the easing planned for New Year’s Eve: after Christmas, only a maximum of five people from two households are allowed to meet.
New Year’s Eve relaxation in Bavaria, Rhineland-Palatinate and Thuringia has already tipped
The federal and state governments originally agreed to allow private gatherings during Christmas and New Year’s Eve with 10 people from different households, not including children as young as 14. A general exit restriction has been in place throughout Bavaria since Wednesday, people can only leave their own apartment for valid reasons.
In view of the tense situation in Corona, Rhineland-Palatinate has also canceled the relaxation of contact restrictions on New Year’s Eve. Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD) announced that there would be no exceptions to the contact restrictions for New Year’s Eve.
The Thuringian state government also does not want to relax the crown measures during Christmas and New Years. According to the Minister of Health, Heike Werner (Linke), the situation in the state is worrying.
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Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) also called on Wednesday in the Kiel state parliament with the words “We must not wait” for a tough shutdown after Christmas.
In addition, Günther announced a ban on serving alcohol in public in the state. Günther did not mention any other specific measures. So far, Schleswig-Holstein has weathered the pandemic comparatively well with its low number of infections. The federal and state governments disagree on the question of whether the Christmas holidays should be brought forward to December 16 across the country.
While Chancellor Merkel is in favor of the early start of the Christmas holidays, Lower Saxony, for example, wants to keep schools open until December 18, as government spokeswoman Anke Pörksen told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung on Wednesday. In Saxony, on the other hand, schools close on Mondays and in Bavaria students no longer have to come to school from next week. (dpa, AFP, epd, Reuters)
