Corona hotspots tourist accommodation ban

Corona pandemic: new rules for vacationers from German hotspots

The federal states’ ban on accommodation for tourists from German Crown hot spots is causing chaos. It was first said that the accommodation ban applies at the national level. But then it became known: five countries do not participate.

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There is no place in hotels for vacationers in risk areas

When traveling on vacation within Germany, citizens of places with a very high number of corona infections should be prepared for considerable difficulties in autumn. Most states decided Wednesday that such vacationers can only be housed if they have a negative corona test that is no older than 48 hours. This was announced on Wednesday after an exchange conference between the heads of chancery of the federal states with the head of the chancellery, Helge Braun (CDU).

This should work for travelers from areas with more than 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days. However, five countries made different statements about the decision. Berlin and Thuringia announced that they did not want to join such an accommodation ban.

Federal states want to act together against the pandemic

However, the federal and state governments essentially reaffirmed a line that had already been decided in principle in late June before the summer vacation. In view of the partially different regulations, the debate should focus on a more uniform framework for the fall.

Bremen, Berlin, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Thuringia presented protocol statements on the decision. Lower Saxony wants to see if the decision can be supported. Thuringia noted “that the assessment of the health authorities of the affected areas should be the basis and criterion for the measurements of the travel destination areas. The Erfurt Ministry of Health explained that there is de facto no entry ban into Thuringia. Berlin demanded to be treated “as a whole city and a unitary community” when assessing the infection rate.

In Bavaria, housing rules should also apply to districts within Berlin, as Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) said. This should also apply if the state of Berlin as a whole remains below the critical mark of 50. Specifically, the districts still have to be appointed by the Bavarian Ministry of Health.

Ramelow: The federal states are not quite close together yet

Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) said he was under the impression that the federal states had different positions on this issue and were not yet close to each other. He couldn’t understand why everyone in a risk region should not be accommodated, Ramelow said. Forcing hoteliers to evict people from national corona risk areas, he described as “an interference with commercial law.”

SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach said German internal testing obligations and accommodation bans are not very helpful. “Soon we will have so many affected regions that the rule will be difficult to implement, much less controllable.” Furthermore, offers in Germany should be maintained, precisely to prevent Germans from traveling to high-risk regions abroad.

Local countermeasures should take effect

The central criterion in crisis management is whether there are more than 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in a region in seven days. Based on this threshold, the federal government also classifies other states as “risk areas” for German vacationers. In Germany, the federal and state governments agreed that local countermeasures will be taken from this mark in “particularly affected areas”.

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