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According to the new Crown Protection Ordinance, the ski lifts must remain closed in North Rhine-Westphalia in December. State Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) announced Monday. Ski lifts are recreational facilities and are therefore prohibited.
Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) spoke on Sunday about reaching out to operators, but at the same time made it clear that a European solution was needed for ski areas. NRW will now make no exceptions and will ban the operation of elevators, as Italy and France had already announced. The new Crown Protection Ordinance initially applies until the end of December. It was not clear at first if he would ski in January. Laschet had previously spoken out in favor of preventing ski tourism across Europe until the end of the Christmas holidays.
In NRW, the ban applies to the Sauerland ski areas. Winterberg Winter Sports Station Mayor Michael Beckmann (CDU) said Monday morning at WDR 5 that a ban until the end of the holidays would hit the city of 12,500 residents hard. Not only tourism, but also gastronomy and local commerce depended on the guests.
If the season doesn’t start until mid-January or even later, it would be a financial burden on Winterberg. “The later we get into the season, the more difficult it will, of course, be to run an economical ski operation,” said Beckmann.
Merkel criticizes hotel openings on holidays
The prime ministers of the federal states had just agreed with Angela Merkel (CDU) on the uniform rules of the crown for December last week, when some heads of state left again. And that does not sit well with the Chancellor. At a meeting of the CDU presidium, he clearly criticized the situation.
Berlin, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein had announced that they would allow hotel stays for family visits during the festive period, contrary to a recommendation from the Chancellery.
At a virtual meeting of the CDU presidium on Monday, Merkel acknowledged the decision of the federal and state governments to relax the crown’s strict contact restrictions during the holidays, the participants reported. He was quoted as saying that he lacked the imagination to suspect that particularly affected countries wanted to open hotels.
Merkel justified her criticism that it was impossible to verify whether only guests were staying at hotels that actually visited relatives in the region. According to this information, the Chancellor referred to the corresponding regulations in large cities such as Berlin. It cannot be explained that the nurses of the Berlin Charité also have to work during Christmas. Several participants reported that she did not explicitly speak of Schleswig-Holstein or Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in this context. Decreasing incidence values can be observed in some territorial states.
The Chancellor spoke of positive developments in the corona infection figures in Hamburg and Bremen. On the contrary, there are more and more in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg. Now regional efforts are needed. Merkel emphasized that there were as many corona infections in November as there were between March and October combined – more than 500,000.
On Wednesday, the federal and state governments agreed that the partial closure with the closure of restaurants, theaters, gyms and leisure facilities should be extended until December 20. Private meetings are limited to a maximum of five people. Contact restrictions will be relaxed over Christmas to allow family visits.
No relaxation between the years in Baden-Württemberg
In Baden-Württemberg, the crown measures will be hardened again immediately after Christmas. The green-black state government only wants to relax contact restrictions from December 23 to 27, a government spokesman for the German press agency confirmed on Monday. Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) agreed on this with his cabinet colleagues. However, during Christmas days, hotel stays for family visits in Baden-Württemberg will be possible.
Crown measurements will tighten across the country in December, except during Christmas time. Last week, the federal and state governments agreed to a maximum limit of ten people plus children up to 14 years of age for meetings “with close family or friends” from December 23 to January 1. This period was too long for Kretschmann. The state government wants to announce the new rules on Monday. According to the State Ministry, the new ordinance will take effect on Tuesday.
Also in Berlin, the Senate decided not to implement the relaxation of contact restrictions for private meetings during the Berlin holidays agreed by the federal and state governments.
Laschet asks for new crown concepts from January
North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) is calling for new concepts in the corona pandemic from January. “Society and the economy cannot hold out for another year like this,” Laschet said. Rheinische Mail. Since the turn of the year, “smart concepts should allow long-term prospects for living with the pandemic,” he said. “With the vaccine approved, these concepts are realistic.”
Laschet went on to say, “We can’t shut everything down forever, and the state pays billions in losses month after month. A new model will be needed starting in the new year. Permanent closures and subsequent compensation payments will destroy the state in the long run. term”.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Helge Braun is optimistic about next year. “The pandemic will lose its horror in the next year,” said the CDU politician. Handelsblatt. “As a society we have to stick to December and the months through March by observing AHA rules and reducing our contacts. Where that is not enough, cuts are inevitable. Then spring will come and hopefully so will the vaccine.”
It has been possible to stop the exponential growth in the number of infections at a level that challenges the healthcare system, but not only overwhelms it. But 400 deaths a day is too many. “That is why I would have liked to pass more far-reaching decisions in October.
RKI recorded 11,169 new infections
As expected, health authorities reported comparatively few new corona infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Monday morning. As announced by the RKI on its website, 11,169 new cases were reported in one day. The previous high was reached on Friday a week ago (November 20) with 23,648 reported cases. Last Monday the figure was 10,864. The numbers are comparatively low on Sundays and Mondays because, according to the RKI, fewer samples are taken on weekends and therefore fewer tests are done overall.
German health authorities also reported 125 new deaths in 24 hours. The trend in the number of daily deaths had recently increased, which was expected after the sharp increase in new infections. The total number of people who died with or with a proven Sars-CoV-2 infection increased to a total of 16,248.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the RKI has counted a total of 1,053,869 infections detected with Sars-CoV-2 in Germany. It is estimated that around 739,100 people have recovered.
According to the RKI situation report on Sunday, the so-called seven-day R-value was 0.95 (previous day: 0.96). This means that, in theory, 100 infected people infect 95 more people. The value represents the onset of the infection eight to 16 days ago. If the value is less than 1 for a longer period of time, the infection rate decreases.
Ifo: Reduced work in Germany is increasing again
New restrictions to contain the corona pandemic have caused reduced working hours in Germany to increase again. The proportion of companies with short-time work rose in November from 24.8 percent in the previous month to 28.0 percent, the Munich-based Ifo Institute announced in Munich on Monday. The researchers refer to their own surveys.
In times of crisis, short-time work is a fundamental instrument to prevent widespread layoffs of employees. According to Ifo, hotels (62.9 to 91 percent), restaurants (53.4 to 71.7 percent) and travel agencies and tour operators (from 88.0 to 91.1 percent) registered particularly significant increases. “Especially in these sectors, which have been massively affected by the partial closure, a large amount of short-time work is being re-implemented,” said Ifo labor market expert Sebastian Link. The increase has occurred in almost every major industry, the researchers said.
The federal government is planning a national health reserve at 19 locations
The plan for a federal national health reserve is getting more concrete. After protective masks and other materials became scarce in the spring, permanent reserves will accumulate for a month at 19 locations by the end of 2021. These should essentially consist of protective gear, protective masks, ventilators and medicines, the health minister explained. , Jens Spahn (CDU) of the German Press Agency. Accordingly, the plan is for the reserve to be filled mainly with masks that have already been acquired, then with nationally produced material. “In an emergency, we especially support those who work in hospitals, nursing homes and doctors’ offices. Good medical care must not fail because of the material.”
In early June, the federal government decided to establish a “National Health Protection Reserve” and commissioned a concept from the ministries involved. Specifically, the reserve must acquire and store certain quantities, but also ensure delivery options and production capacities. This combination should be able to cover the need for up to six months. In addition to supplying the health sector and the federal government, humanitarian aid with protective equipment should also be possible for the World Health Organization (WHO) and other countries, according to the proposal.
