Corona ticker Saxony on October 22: New visit bans for Saxon clinics

Due to the increasing number of corona virus infections, two Saxon clinics have issued new visit bans. From today, visits to the Freiberg district hospital are prohibited. Exceptions apply, depending on the house, for midwifery (birth and after), children’s room and hospice room. A visiting ban is now also in force for the Weißwasser district hospital. The temporary measure is requested on understanding, he said on the website. The protection of patents and family members and employees is particularly important.

Unsurprisingly, tourism figures in Upper Lusatia’s two big cities, Bautzen and Görlitz, have dropped significantly this year. This is evident in the figures from the State Statistics Office. The year-on-year decrease in overnight stays from January to August 2020 was 18.2 percent in Bautzen and 23.5 percent in Görlitz. Cities like Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz were hit the hardest with losses of more than 40 percent.

Rapid Corona tests have not yet been carried out in Saxon nursing homes and nursing homes. Saxony Health Minister Petra Köpping told the MDR that they were not sufficiently prepared for a new federal testing regulation. Trained personnel are required for rapid tests. That is being coordinated. The largest private operator of nursing homes in Saxony, Pro Seniore, said they were in negotiations with several manufacturers. Calculate with 20 antigen tests per resident per month. The new test regulations came into effect a week ago. According to this, the federal government will cover the costs even if residents do not show any symptoms. The same applies to employees and visitors. Rapid tests give a result after about 15 minutes. But they are less reliable.