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The negotiations dragged on, but now Chancellor Merkel has announced the decisions: the blockade will be extended and tightened. There are more curfews and contact restrictions. Schools and kindergartens remain closed.
The lockdown to combat the corona pandemic in Germany will run until January 31 due to the continued high number of infections and will even tighten. This is what Chancellor Angela Merkel and the prime ministers of the federal states agreed to during their deliberations in Berlin.
Consequently, the measures previously limited to January 10 will continue to apply until the end of the month. This affects, for example, the closure of most shops, restaurants, theaters, museums and leisure facilities. The rules of contact will be tightened again: In the future, private meetings will only be allowed with members of the household and with a maximum of one other person who does not live in the household. So far, a maximum of five people from up to two households can meet.
Drastic restriction of movement in hot spots
People in counties with very high numbers of corona infections face drastic restrictions on their freedom of movement. Starting with a seven-day incidence of more than 200 new infections per 100,000 residents, federal states should take local measures to limit the range of movement to 15 kilometers around the place of residence.
This can only be deviated for a valid reason. Sightseeing day trips are not a valid reason, according to the decision document of the federal and state governments.
According to Merkel, with the restriction of the radius of movement in the hot spots of the crown, tourist excursions in particular should be reduced, which could generate large crowds. By restricting the radius of movement to 15 kilometers around the place of residence, the exact address in a big city like Berlin is not meant, Merkel clarified. Don’t start measuring the path from Mitte to Spandau or Marzahn, this is not practicable.
School and nursery closings are extended
The closure of schools and nurseries will also last until the end of January. The federal government wants to regulate by law that child sickness benefit will be granted for an additional ten days per parent and 20 days for single parents this year.
Merkel said after deliberations that the goal remains to reach an incidence of seven days per 100,000 inhabitants under 50 years of age. This is becoming even more important due to the discovered mutation of the coronavirus, which is spreading faster. “That means we have to be especially careful here,” the chancellor said. A “new situation” is created again. Merkel admitted that the new measures were “drastic.”
Müller: Burdensome but necessary additional cuts
The ruling mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller, defended the extension of the blockade as appropriate and justified it mainly with the tense situation in the health system. The cuts are “stressful for many people, there is no question about it,” the SPD politician said after the conference. But the burden on hospitals and intensive care units remains high. Staff work at the limit of their resilience. In this sense, it is clear that much remains to be done to contain the pandemic.
Landkreistag loses a long-term strategy
The German District Association loses the prospect of an exit from the confinement with the new resolutions. “What is lacking is a long-term sustainable strategy,” said President of the District Assembly, Reinhard Sager of the dpa news agency. “We still live here too long and move from conference to conference.” For example, the policy should provide families with a degree of security in planning, Sager explained. “This could be done in such a way that classroom teaching takes place up to a certain value, then hybrid teaching from a limit and again from an even higher value than just distance learning.”
Some of the new measures would be very stressful for the population, says Sager. It depends on your cooperation. “The restrictions must be transparent and proportionate to be understood and accepted. With a view to the restrictions adopted on movement and the restrictions on contact with a single person outside one’s own home, this limit could possibly be exceeded,” he warned.
Strong criticism of the FDP
FDP politician Wolfgang Kubicki already voiced harsh criticism in the afternoon for the restriction of freedom of movement to a narrow radius around the place of residence. The idea of this new instrument “does not have an explicit legal anchor”, says the vice-president of the “Handelsblatt” of the Bundestag. “An instrument that once again has not taken place in a parliamentary debate and that is negotiated behind closed doors,” Kubicki added. “Contrary to all claims, there was no learning effect at the Chancellery.”
FDP MP Michael Theurer also doesn’t think such restrictions make sense. He said: “There is no connection between movement and infection. Only 50 kilometers in the car there is no risk of infection, five kilometers in a fully occupied subway.”
Movement restriction so far only in Saxony
Currently, more than 70 counties have an incidence of more than 200.
In Germany, the range of motion is limited in Saxony. Here, citizens are only allowed a maximum of 15 kilometers from their place of residence, for example to play sports or go shopping. For Thuringia, which is also heavily affected by Covid-19, Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow has now proposed a corresponding regulation.
