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Loosen or tighten the lock? Wait. The federal and state governments probably won’t decide on the “Crown winter calendar” until Nov. 23. Prime Minister Dreyer concluded in Berlin report tighter contact restrictions.
By Wenke Börnsen, tagesschau.de
The federal and state governments want to reach an interim conclusion at halftime of the shutdown, which inevitably raises expectations. That there may be a date when restaurants, museums, cinemas, gyms can reopen. That maybe in December a little normalcy will return.
Almost none of this should be decided this Monday. Instead, the federal and state governments appear to be relying on waiting. And the principle of hope. In any case, it should be discussed what measures could come, keyword: stricter contact restrictions. A decision on the “Crown winter calendar” will only be made when consultations resume on 23 November. According to information from the German Press Agency, several countries pleaded at the preliminary meeting on Sunday at the Foreign Ministry for the first time to continue to monitor developments and wait for far-reaching decisions.
“The numbers have to go down”
For the “real consequences” it is now, after two weeks, too early, said Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer, in Berlin report. Although the dynamics of new infections are slowing, the numbers are still too high. “One thing is clear: the numbers have to go down.”
What if they don’t sink? In this case, the SPD politician advocated further limiting the number of contacts. “Even fewer contacts, that’s the point,” he appealed to everyone in the country. Dreyer did not rule out that contact restrictions could be tighter. At the moment, only members of two households can meet in public and a maximum of ten people in total. Now it is possible that more restrictions will be agreed here, for example that only a household and one other person can meet.
School problem
Dreyer also recalled why the focus is on limiting free-time contacts: “We do this so that our educational institutions can stay open.”
The crown’s situation in schools and how it was handled recently sparked discussions. There could also be a dispute on this issue in the federal-state consultations. In principle, there was agreement that schools should remain open for face-to-face teaching, based on preliminary consultations. However, most countries currently do not want to change regulations. The Foreign Ministry, for its part, wanted to talk about changes, for example in the distance rules applicable in schools, the size of the group or the introduction of models of change in the classroom. Here the fronts have hardened.
Prime Minister Dreyer concluded in Berlin report It is not unlikely that one could agree on Monday on the proposal by Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder that there should be a general mask requirement in schools. Many countries introduced this a long time ago.
It is not unlikely that the Bund-Länder round will agree on measures in the area of communication this Monday, he said. A kind of “label” is conceivable in which, for example, rules of conduct for children and families could be included. The newspaper “Bild” reported on this. In addition, the protection of risk groups will again play a role, but this time for the elderly and the sick who do not live in a home.
Bottom line: a few small things could be decided on Monday, the biggest levers will probably only move a week later.
New high-level infections
A clear assessment of the infection process is also difficult at this time. The number of new infections remains at a high level, even if the increase no longer seems so pronounced.
The 7-day incidence, that is, the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in a week, has also recently increased more slowly. On Sunday, according to the RKI, there were 143. However, it is far from the goal set by politicians of a maximum of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants. It is conceivable that the latest increase that appears to have slowed down is either a random statistical fluctuation or due to reporting delays. In its daily status report, the RKI highlights that a large number of transmissions can currently be observed in the population in Germany.
No relaxation in intensive care units
Also in the intensive care units there are currently no signs of relaxation of the situation. According to the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), the number of patients treated in intensive care increased by just under 1,700, from 362 to 2061, between October 1 and November 1. In the last two weeks, more than 1,300 cases were added, on Sunday the number was 3,385, an increase of 60 compared to the previous day.
This development was to be expected. Because it takes an average of ten to twelve days for a newly infected person developing a severe course of Covid 19 to end up in an intensive care unit, and patients often spend a long time in clinics. A possible decrease in the number of patients in intensive care units lags behind a possible decrease in new infections. More recently, DIVI and other physicians called for postponement interventions in hospitals in particularly affected regions to be reduced or suspended to prevent clinics from becoming overloaded.
After all, unlike spring and summer, there are no “opening discussion orgies.” The federal and state governments are relatively in agreement that there can be no relaxation at this time. Or as the Prime Minister of Bavaria, Söder, said: “If you relax too early, you risk Christmas.”
