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Monday, November 30, 2020
Are the crown deniers to blame?
Saxony is becoming Corona’s new hotspot
By Hedviga Nyarsik
In Saxony, the coronavirus seems to be raging uncontrollably: in several districts the incidence value is now more than 400; the critical limit has already been reached at 200. The Free State has been reporting increasing numbers of infections for weeks. But why here? There are several theories about this.
Saxony is considered the new bastion of the crown in Germany: in no other federal state is the corona virus spreading faster than in the Free State. Saxony is reporting more than 4,800 new infections since last Friday. Ten of the 13 counties and urban districts are currently above the critical limit of 200 infections per 100,000 residents in seven days. In two districts, the incidence value is even more than 400: in the Bautzen district and in the Erzgebirge district. It is notable that big cities like Dresden or Leipzig behave relatively lightly.
Health Minister Petra Köpping sees a reason why the spread of the crown mainly affects rural regions of Saxony in family life and close friends in the country. In the villages the feeling of security is greater and therefore people are less careful. The strong cohesion is nice, the minister told the MDR, “but these close friendships, these close family celebrations in town, make people very careless in these circles.”
Unlike spring, most new infections can no longer be accurately assigned. But you know that nearly 25 percent of infections occur at family celebrations and parties, Köpping warned. “Right where people gather for a long time and come close.” This also includes “small village festivals,” the health minister said. Therefore, the highest priority is: contact restrictions.
One in four Saxons is over 65
The age structure in Saxony could also be decisive. “In the age group over 80, the number of infections is increasing dramatically,” Markus Scholz of the University of Leipzig told the newspaper “Bild”. “That explains why the pandemic situation in Saxony, with the highest average age of all federal states, looks particularly bad,” said the medical computer scientist. According to the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, 24.9 percent of the Saxon population is 65 years of age or older.
Furthermore, those over 80 in Saxony would get sick “more often than the average German,” Scholz said. “The districts of Görlitz, Erzgebirgskreis, Meißen and Bautzen, where outbreaks in nursing homes have also been described, are particularly affected.”
In fact, the severity of the disease is increasing significantly. In the Central Saxony and Meissen districts, there are only six (out of 50) and seven (out of 68) free intensive care beds, according to the Divi Intensive Care Registry. In the Bautzen district, the proportion of Covid-19 patients in intensive care units is higher at 43.2 percent. “The capacity limit has almost been reached, especially in terms of personnel,” warns Norbert Heide, medical director of the Central Ore Mountains Clinic in Zschopau. The failure rate in the care sector is around 30%.
More crown deniers in Saxony?
The Sächsische Zeitung draws a bolder parallel with the dramatically increasing number of infections in Saxony. It recently published the headline “Saxony has the highest number of crown deniers.” The report is based on a Deutsche Bank study. It says: “Respondents in Saxony do not see a crisis in relation to Corona more often than in other federal states.” Strictly speaking, the Saxons would be more of a crisis denier than a crown denier. And yet: conspiracy ideologies and protest movements are finding fertile ground in the Free State.
As in Baden-Wuerttemberg, in Saxony “popularity and protest have matured for years,” Leipzig historian and political scientist Michael Lühmann told “Spiegel”. This goes hand in hand with an active and conservative Protestant community life, especially in eastern Saxony and the Ore Mountains. In those areas where the number of infections is currently skyrocketing. According to Lühmann, there is also proximity to the AfD, which has become the anti-crown party in the wake of the pandemic. In the affected regions, approval of the right-wing populist party in the last state parliament elections was particularly high.
“We have to act here”
It cannot be said whether the crown deniers are actually, at least in part, to blame for the dramatic infection events in Saxony. The fact is, however: despite the partial lockdown since the beginning of November, the figures in Saxony are not falling, on the contrary. While a total of nearly 5,000 infections were recorded in the first wave, the number has increased tenfold to around 54,500 in the past two months.
“We have to act here,” Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer said in light of the stress limit reached in hospitals. His cabinet decided Friday at a special meeting to implement the relevant federal state resolutions starting Wednesday night, and in some cases even toughened them up.
The new protection ordinance in Saxony says: If there is a persistent 7-day incidence of at least 200 new infections, an exit restriction is applied in the respective district or affected city. Residents can only leave their apartment in exceptional cases, for example, to go to work, go shopping or go to school. Sports and leisure activities are only allowed within 15 kilometers of the place of residence. In addition, there is a ban on alcohol in public spaces. Exceptions should only be made for holidays.
Kretschmer appealed to citizens to support and adhere to the important restrictions needed. “We need more caution. There is no reason for hysteria, but also no reason to ignore it,” the prime minister said. Because: “If things don’t work out, there is only a complete lockdown. To avoid that, we have to lower the number.”
