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Autumn is here, and the number of cases is on the rise again: shortly before the next meeting of the federal and state governments, calls for stricter crown requirements in Germany are getting stronger. But not everyone agrees.
In view of the growing number of corona cases in Germany, calls for new protection measures at the national level are growing stronger. Shortly before another meeting of the federal and state governments on Tuesday, municipalities and districts put into play a mask requirement across Germany and a limitation on the number of participants at private parties. However, several prime ministers of less affected countries reject a uniform approach.
Only wearing a mask at the Christmas market?
The Association of Towns and Municipalities recently called for an expansion of the mask requirement. The use of oral and nasal protection should be mandatory in all places “where distance cannot be maintained in public spaces, for example, at Christmas markets or crowded places, and where the infection rate exceeds the critical limit of more of 50 new infections per week per 100,000 inhabitants has reached or exceeded, ”CEO Gerd Landsberg told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
On Saturday, the Association of German Districts also called for a national upper limit of fewer than 50 people at private parties. “From 50 participants, it becomes logistically extremely difficult to trace the contacts if there was a Covid-positive between the company,” said President of the district council Reinhard Sager from the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. The federal and state governments would have to decide on a uniform limit on the number of participants. “In Hamm we see what a luxurious wedding with 150 guests can lead to,” said the CDU politician in view of a large wedding in the North Rhine-Westphalia city.
Infections especially in the private environment.
Meanwhile, the president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, has confirmed that many of the current corona infections in Germany can be traced back to private meetings. “At this time, people are mainly infected in their private sphere, that is, at parties, wedding celebrations, funerals and also in religious services,” he told “Welt am Sonntag”. On the contrary, the risk of contagion in companies has not been so high until now. There have been very spectacular eruptions, according to Wieler, but not many. “Most companies seem to be handling the pandemic well.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to consult with federal states on measures to counter the growing number of corona infections. The background to this is the worrying fact that several large cities have exceeded the important limit of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in one week. Also, with 2507 new corona cases in one day, the highest value in Germany since April was reached on Saturday. On Sunday, the Robert Koch Institute reported another 1,411 cases.
The rise in new infections can be partly explained by the fact that more tests have been done in recent months than before. However, an indication that the infection status is recovering again regardless of the number of tests is that a higher proportion of corona tests were positive. According to RKI’s management report, the so-called positive rate was 1.19 percent in the week of September 14-20 (previous week: 0.86). That is the highest value in more than ten weeks.
Criticisms of the East German federal states
Criticisms of the suggestions made by municipalities and districts for uniform national rules come from the eastern German states, among others. Saxony-Anhalt wants to go its own way even after consultations with Merkel. Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff told “Bild am Sonntag”: “Infections in Saxony-Anhalt are increasing slightly, but they are still traceable and there is currently no reason to think about tightening the measures again.”
Saxony Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer also told the newspaper that he relied on voluntariness rather than coercion. “I have personal responsibility for people who will behave and must behave in a more disciplined way now in the fall.”
