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Baden-Württemberg you are moving forward with the tightening of the crown lock nationwide, but you may want to deviate at two crucial points. The federal and state governments agreed to extend the closure rules originally agreed on January 10 until the end of the month. In addition, they agreed to even stricter contact restrictions in the private sector.
Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) announced on Tuesday evening in Stuttgart that primary schools and nurseries would be reopened from January 18, if the number of infections allowed. Most countries want to close schools by the end of January.
Education Minister Susanne Eisenmann (CDU), who had been a strong advocate for classroom teaching in primary schools, welcomed the approach. Eisenmann’s spokesman explained that the decision of the federal and state governments made it possible to open elementary schools. The newspaper says the measures in schools will run from December 13 to the end of January according to the decision. The decision before Christmas said that face-to-face lessons were possible when compulsory attendance was suspended, the ministry spokesman said. That has been the case in Baden-Württemberg since the summer.
In addition, Baden-Württemberg does not want to decide until later whether to restrict the radius of movement of people to 15 kilometers around the place of residence in districts with a high number of corona infections. “We are not currently planning that,” Kretschmann said. “We must first arrive at reliable values next week and then decide.”
as well Lower saxony you do not want to simply implement restriction of freedom of movement at critical points. A separate justification for proportionality is necessary, as the Higher Administrative Court has already warned of other restrictions, Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) said in Hannover. “For us, this is part of the testing program to determine if and when the regulation applies, preferably not at all.” With both the introduction of a curfew and the ban on firecrackers, the court demanded valid justification that mere reference to federal-state decisions was not enough for judges, Weil explained.
in Thuringia Initially, there is no obligation at the national level for citizens to limit their range of movement to 15 kilometers around their place of residence. The mobility restriction “will be added to the catalog of recommendations for districts,” Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) said Tuesday night after a cabinet meeting in Erfurt. Thus, it could be ordered by regions with an incidence of seven days of more than 200 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Ramelow had already proposed the 15-kilometer rule based on the Saxon model on Sunday, also in response to a race at Thuringian winter sports resorts. However, SPD and Greens ministers expressed concern. The cabinet agreed that access to Thuringia’s winter sports resorts could be restricted or prevented to avoid large gatherings of daytime tourists, Ramelow said.
Thuringia and Saxony winter holidays will be brought forward due to the corona pandemic, and in Saxony they will be shortened to one week. Ramelow and Saxon Culture Minister Christian Piwarz (CDU) announced this Tuesday evening.
Thuringia moves its winter vacation from February to the last week of January. Instead of February 8 as planned, they should start on January 25. This means that the holidays fall into the extended shutdown period, in which there should be no classroom teaching.
In Saxony, one of the usual two weeks of vacation will be brought forward to the first week of February. It should serve as a “respite” for students, parents and teachers, Piwarz explained. The second week of vacation must be made up in the Holy Week before Easter.
The blockade will last until the end of January
The lockdown to fight the corona pandemic will run until January 31 due to the continued high number of infections. The federal and state governments agreed to this in their deliberations on Tuesday in Berlin. Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) said it was a difficult but necessary decision at a press conference.
People in counties with very high numbers of corona infections face drastic restrictions on their freedom of movement. From a seven-day incidence of more than 200 new infections per 100,000 residents, federal states must take local measures to limit the radius of movement to 15 kilometers around the place of residence, unless there is a valid reason. With place of residence, for example, Berlin is understood as a city, not as a private address. Day trips are not a valid reason.
In addition, contact restrictions will be tightened. In the future, only private meetings will be allowed with members of your own household and with a maximum of one other person not living in the household.
Merkel said the goal was still to achieve a national incidence value below 50. To be able to trace the infection chains again, it is necessary to tighten measures now “to go back down clearly.” The crown mutation discovered in Britain has exacerbated the situation, Merkel said. Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) also issued an urgent warning about the danger posed by the mutation. Germany could still have a lot to do in this regard.
Schools and daycare centers will also remain closed, Merkel said. Parents receive an additional ten days of Child Sickness Benefit per parent for childcare. This doubles the period.
When entering from risk areas, a “double test strategy” will be introduced, Merkel said: Anyone who enters must be tested and quarantined. After five days it can be “released”.
The federal government and state leaders wanted to use stricter measures to avoid further consequences of short shutdowns and relaxation phases, Merkel said. The ruling mayor of Berlin, Müller (SPD), said that as much as the lockdown measures had brought in the past, it turned out that they always only have temporary effect. Now it’s important to have “a long-term perspective” with vaccination, Müller said.
Looking ahead to the debate in recent days on the EU’s purchase of vaccines, Merkel said the countries expressly support the common European approach. “We do not want to do it alone at the national level,” he emphasized. The most effective protection can also be achieved for Germany through a European approach. It is in Germany’s interest that the population of the EU’s neighbors is quickly vaccinated.
Söder advised against having too much hope for the period from February onwards. Countries like France and Spain would not have reached the desired incidence values despite strong measures. “What we need now is patience, consideration and understanding.”
RKI reports 944 deaths in 24 hours
German health authorities reported 11,897 new corona infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in one day. In addition, 944 new deaths were recorded in 24 hours, the RKI announced Tuesday morning. Interpretation of the data remains difficult because around Christmas and the turn of the year corona cases were discovered, recorded and transmitted late, according to the RKI. On Wednesday (December 30) the maximum of 1,129 new deaths was reached. For new infections registered within 24 hours, the highest value was reported on December 18, at 33,777, but it contained 3,500 late reports.
The number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants (incidence of seven days) reported to health authorities in seven days was 134.7 on Tuesday morning. Its previous high was reached on December 22 at 197.6. However, the differences between the federal states are huge: the highest incidences on Tuesday had Saxony with 298.7 and Thuringia with 241.8. Schleswig-Holstein had the lowest value with 77.1.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the RKI has counted 1,787,410 infections detected with Sars-CoV-2 in Germany (as of January 5, 00:00). The total number of people who died with or with the participation of a proven infection with Sars-CoV-2 increased to 35,518. The RKI indicated the number of those who had recovered at around 1,424,700.
According to the RKI report on Monday, the national seven-day R-value was 0.85 (Sunday: 0.91). This means that 100 infected people infect 85 more people. The value represents the onset of the infection eight to 16 days ago. If it is below 1 for a long time, the infection rate decreases. The RKI emphasized that the R-value may be underestimated due to delays.
