Hamm and Corona: “It can happen tomorrow in any other city,” said the mayor

reThe Westphalian town of Hamm is experiencing a wave of infections after three major private parties. According to the city, a Turkish bride and groom from Hamm celebrated with guests from Southeast Europe, and not all guests adhered to Corona’s rules.

The result: with an incidence of up to 94.9 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days, Hamm far exceeded the limit of 50, after which new restrictions are necessary. A conversation about the situation in Hamm with Mayor Thomas Hunsteger-Petermann (CDU).

WORLD: Mr. Hunsteger-Petermann, is the wedding couple certainly the talk of the town for you?

Hunsteger-Petermann: Grooms and wedding celebrations are, of course, the talk of the town. In the course of the pandemic, it can be seen very clearly: it is definitely due to three dates: a henna night in Hamm on September 4, a big wedding on the weekend in Dortmund and another wedding the following weekend in Werl with a Most of the first wedding party was with guests. We are sure that these are the sources of the infection.

WORLD: Is it appropriate to have such grand celebrations in a pandemic?

Hunsteger-Petermann: I don’t think such large celebrations are appropriate. What happened in Hamm could happen tomorrow in any other city. Obviously, henna festivals, a kind of bachelorette party, are structured in such a way that there is a lot of body contact that we cry a lot. This can quickly turn into a splinter of infection. But at the time of the celebrations, the municipality and the public order office had no influence on private parties with up to 150 participants. They didn’t need to be seen or approved. We have already adjusted this rule for Hamm. Celebrations with 25 to 50 participants must be displayed, celebrations with up to 150 participants require approval.

WORLD: More than 150 guests are said to have attended the weddings. Do you know now how many people attended the celebrations?

Hunsteger-Petermann: Two of the three events were not at Hamm, so I can’t be sure. But we know that the group of people who are in quarantine or who are directly infected has already significantly exceeded 300.

WORLD: Does the wedding party cooperate in following up the contacts?

Hunsteger-Petermann: Meanwhile, yes. However, initially the cooperation could have been better. There were event participant lists in Hamm, but tracking was partially blocked. The central problem begins with the fact that we were informed about the celebrations very late. It would have been easier if we had known from the beginning that there is a wedding party with a maximum of 150 guests and clearly manageable lists of participants and a clear manager. The wedding party behaved irresponsibly, but they used the existing legal status of the crown.

WORLD: 160 people work in contact tracking in the city administration. You can do it?

Hunsteger-Petermann: In the meantime, I have the impression that we will catch up, but with some delay. I hope the infected are slowly but safely quarantined so that we can limit the further course of the infection. Friday’s numbers show us that many newly infected people are already in quarantine and there are no major infections of children or students.

WORLD: The organizer, that is, the bride and groom, faces a fine. Are there other ways to claim damages? A showman had to cancel a fair, other tasks are left to his administration.

Hunsteger-Petermann: We check all the possibilities. It is not easy, our legal department takes care of the matter. Sure there will be fines. I cannot judge whether there can be claims for damages.

WORLD: In Hamm there is now a mask requirement in schools, in public spaces only a maximum of five people or members of two households are allowed to stay together. How do citizens accept that?

Hunsteger-Petermann: My impression is that there are three groups: for some, the measures are too few, for others the measures go too far and a third group believes that everything is a conspiracy. I have the impression, also in schools, that students and teachers support the mask requirement in a positive way. We try to protect the health of our residents. Luckily we are in the situation that at this moment only one person is in the intensive care unit, twelve more are in hospital treatment.

WORLD: Are you worried about the image of your city now?

Hunsteger-Petermann: It is important to me that the people of Hammen are not treated like lepers when they are out of our city. This is what happened to the people of Gütersloh. It would be good to evaluate the outbreak with realistic figures. Yes, we currently have 207 acutely infected people (as of Friday noon), but we also have 180,000 residents.

WORLD: The second round of the NRW local elections is Sunday. You are running for re-election, you have to go to the second round against SPD challenger Marc Herter. Does being able to act as a crisis manager benefit you?

Hunsteger-Petermann: It can be an advantage, but it can also be a disadvantage if people do not agree with the measurements. We take a reasonable middle course at Hamm. I have not imposed a blockade on Hamm, not because we have a choice, but because I believe that certain measures, based on the experience of March, are unnecessary or absurd. I don’t see why I should close a pool, for example. Not a single infection occurred in the Hamm pools. Nor have we closed any schools. In conclusion, I cannot judge the impact of the outbreak on the elections. Voters will decide on Sunday and will not be able to judge the election from a short-term perspective.