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In the fight against the corona pandemic, it becomes clear that the partial closure in Germany will run until December and that Christmas and New Year’s Eve will also have to be celebrated differently from previous years. Before the upcoming consultations with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) on Wednesday, the prime ministers of the 16 federal states agreed that the restrictions decided for November must continue.
The current chairman of the Prime Minister’s Conference, Berlin’s ruling mayor Michael Müller (SPD), said on Sunday that, in view of the continuing high number of infections, it was “currently unimaginable” that the measures could expire. “We agree that a lot has already been achieved, but not enough,” Müller said. It assumes that the measures imposed at the beginning of the month would have reduced the number of contacts by 40 percent and is based on information from the Helmholtz Institute.
Merkel believes that much remains to be done. Söder sees no reason to give the go-ahead
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) said in Berlin on Sunday that to regain access to the pandemic and contact tracing, one “certainly has to do a lot.” But what exactly is that, you cannot and do not want to anticipate. “The fact is that we are not yet as far away as we would have liked to overcome the contact restrictions,” Merkel continued. At the last meeting of the federal and state governments earlier in the week, Merkel wanted to implement stricter measures against the pandemic, but opposed the countries failed.
Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) told ARD that there was no reason to give the go-ahead. Therefore, “we will certainly propose to extend the blockade. And in some places, especially at critical points, to deepen it significantly.”
The country’s leaders now have until Wednesday to present concrete proposals on what crown measures should be implemented in December. The Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer (SPD), is already putting citizens in the mood for restrictions during Christmas and New Year’s Eve. “I want a scheme that offers perspectives,” he said. Süddeutsche Zeitung. Christmas and New Years Eve, people should be able to meet their loved ones. But: “It is also clear that here we also have to limit contacts.” Until now, you have only been allowed to stay in public with members of your own household and from another household, a maximum of ten people can meet.
According to information from SZ, the SPD is considering relaxing this regulation during Christmas so that family and friends from various households can gather. Therefore, the SPD wants to allow meetings with people “outside the home”, the upper limit could be ten people, not including children under 14 years. Anyone planning such encounters should, “whenever possible, quarantine for several days if possible before and after the holidays,” as an SPD draft resolution put it on Sunday. The SZ has the document.
Protection measures also for New Year’s Eve under discussion
There should also be guidelines for New Years Eve. Dreyer said: “It will be possible to ring in the New Year in a small circle, but big New Years parties or big crowds in popular places are definitely too great a risk. We have to avoid that.” His party proposes to ban “selling, buying and lighting fireworks” at the turn of the year. However, the countries led by the Union are against it. The sale and carrying of fireworks should not be prohibited, according to a newspaper reported by the dpa on Monday morning. Instead, there should be an appeal and a ban on fireworks in crowded places.
As for the operation in schools, he does not consider that these places are sources of contagion. However, she was willing to make the shift from school to home possible in areas severely affected by the virus. Where there are significantly more than 50 new infections per 100,000 residents, students in seventh grade and up must wear a mask in class. So it is in the draft.
However, the mask requirement should not only be expanded in schools. “Everyone has to wear a mouth and nose cover in closed rooms that are accessible to the public or in the context of visitors or customers. This also applies to public transport,” the draft reads. Even in places where people gather, whether in a confined space or not just temporarily, a mask should be mandatory if the local authorities so decide.
General contact restrictions could also be tightened. The draft talks about limiting private meetings with friends, relatives and acquaintances to one’s own home and to another home. In any case, however, a maximum of five people should meet. Children up to 14 years old should not be counted. Colleges and universities should basically switch to digital teaching. There should only be exceptions for lab work, internships, and exams.
State aid for temporarily closed companies will also be extended until December 20. According to the newspaper, these are fundamental for companies and employees and an important element for the high level of acceptance of the necessary protection measures among citizens. The expenditure of this aid in November is estimated at 15,000 million euros. It is also proposed that aid measures for sectors that will continue to face “considerable restrictions” for the foreseeable future are extended until mid-2021. The cultural and events industries, the self-employed and the travel industry are named.
Over the weekend, the German Academy of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine issued a statement against restrictions on face-to-face teaching. School closures in the spring would have had far-reaching negative consequences for children and adolescents, even jeopardizing the well-being of the child. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly clear that schools are not critical points. Therefore, it is up to adults to limit their contacts and allow children to attend school and daycare. With an analysis of data, the directors of more than 100 German children’s clinics also contradicted the thesis that there are numerous undiscovered cases of infection among children. Rather, the number of Sars-CoV-2 positive children among all children admitted to the hospital was less than 0.2 percent in the past six months.
“There is no undetected or worrying spread of infections in schools,” emphasized Reinhard Berner, director of the German Society for Child and Adolescent Medicine. The lessons can be continued in accordance with the rules of distance and hygiene to contain the pandemic.
