Bund-Länder consultations: Easter probably alone at home

Chancellor Merkel and prime ministers have been discussing the additional crown policy for several hours. According to a draft, the blockade will be hardened again on Easter days.

In view of the sharp increase in the number of corona infections, the lockdown in Germany will last until April 18. Chancellor Angela Merkel and the prime ministers of the federal states decided this during their deliberations on the fight against the pandemic. ARD capital study learned from multiple sources. A final decision on future measures is still pending.

In a draft resolution that the ARD capital study is available, April 1 (Holy Thursday) and April 3 (Saturday) 2021 will also be defined as “rest days” once. So extensive contact restrictions apply. “During this time, private meetings are possible with members of your own household and with another household, but limited to a maximum of five people,” says the draft, which has not yet been approved. Therefore, the federal and state governments will approach religious communities “with the request that religious gatherings only take place virtually during this time.”

As the publishing network Germany learned from the negotiating circles, Merkel had previously expressed her discontent and therefore demanded that the round be suspended. Merkel said that the measures decided so far were not enough to break the dynamics of the infection. This is not how you can survive in public. Subsequently, the chancellor, the mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller, the prime minister of Bavaria, Markus Söder, and the vice chancellor Olaf Scholz, resumed the talks in a small group.

The SPD side had previously negotiated with each other, as did the leaders of the Union countries. The lines of conflict ran, for example, between Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein in the union-led states and Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on the SPD side, it is said. Underlying this is the desire of coastal states, for example, to allow “low-contact vacations” within their federal states during Easter despite the increasing number of infections.

No softening of the “emergency brake”

It is already clear that after the massive increase in the number of infections, the signs point to a tightening of the crown’s rules. The “emergency brake” will be maintained to ease the measures that have already been carried out, such as the opening of shops, museums and sports facilities. It applies to regions where the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants exceeds 100 in seven days. This is now the case in much of Germany, but action is often not yet taken. The nationwide average has exceeded 100 since Sunday.

A draft resolution that was sent by the Foreign Ministry shortly before the deliberations also contains the proposal to close schools and daycare centers or not open them, as long as the educators, teachers and supervised students or children cannot be examined twice a week. Schools and daycare centers could also be closed with an incidence of 200 or more. However, it is not yet clear whether this proposal will be accepted by the country’s leaders. Nor does there appear to be any agreement on possible night curfews in high incidence regions.

Quarantine for returnees from Mallorca?

It is also controversial whether there should be any new requirements for Mallorca vacationers. A week ago, the federal government removed the Germans’ favorite island from the list of risk areas and removed the travel warning due to the sharp drop in infection rates. This also means that there is no longer an obligation to test or quarantine returnees. This led to a reserve boom, but also heated discussions about whether this would risk a new source of infection. Therefore, in today’s deliberations, a reintroduction of mandatory testing and also a reintroduction of quarantine is called for.

Regarding the situation of care centers and care for the elderly, the draft resolution indicates that there is now “the expectation of normalization of the situation of long-term tension” after residents and employees have been vaccinated as a priority. Since it is not yet known to what extent vaccination rules out the possibility that people who have been vaccinated infect others, the concepts of hygiene and testing must be implemented consistently. However, at the same time, two weeks after the second vaccination, the opportunities to visit the facilities without a corona outbreak could be expanded again and general group offers could again be made. It remains to be seen whether the federal and state governments will make the right decisions.