Partial lockdown before Christmas: Söder wants to toughen crown rules

Stand: 2:11 pm | Reading time: 3 minutes

METERArkus Söder (CSU) is calling on the federal and state governments to toughen up previous state proposals before the crown’s consultations. The Bavarian prime minister said Tuesday on the sidelines of a meeting of the state parliament in Munich that some points still need to be refined and supplemented.

Earlier, the leader of the Union parliamentary group, Ralph Brinkhaus, spoke out against the relaxation of contact restrictions between Christmas and New Year proposed by the prime minister for stricter crown rules at least at the turn of the year: “People want to celebrate Christmas together with their family, this is not only very important for the elderly.” the CDU politician told “Spiegel.”

“But on New Years Eve we don’t really have to open it all up again.” Brinkhaus warned: “Christmas and New Year’s Eve together would probably delay us a lot.” When asked about a possible ban on firecrackers on New Year’s Eve, he said: “Basically, anything that doesn’t take place on New Year’s Eve is good in terms of infection.”

The Christmas holidays in Bavaria will be extended for two days this year due to the wreath. This means that students will not have to wait until December 23, but their last day of school will be December 18 (Friday) of this year.

“The risk of infection is significantly reduced by the waiting period of almost a week between school lessons and Christmas, so families can celebrate in a healthy and worry-free way,” tweeted Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) on Tuesday. The Bavarian Radio had already reported on it.

The criticism comes from the German Association of Philologists, among others. But also many parents who had to sacrifice one day or another of vacation for the care of their children during the Corona crisis should not like the short-term vacation extension.

The German Philological Association spoke of an “urban chaos”. The teachers wanted to plan their lessons wisely, said the association’s president, Susanne Lin-Klitzing, of the Germany publishing network. “When in doubt, those who are about to graduate from high school or awaiting other exams would suffer short-term vacation extensions.” Rather than being agitated during the holiday periods, serial tests are needed at the beginning of school in the new year, that is, voluntary crown tests for all students and Teacher.

Söder said that with the early start of the holiday “we are improving the chances for families in Bavaria to celebrate the most important holiday of the year in a healthy and carefree way.” The background is that people should limit their contacts as much as possible a few days before Christmas so that there are no infections at family celebrations.

Holidays in North Rhine-Westphalia start two days before

Before the new federal and state consultations on the future course to deal with the corona virus, the states ruled by the Union had spoken in favor of such an extension of the holidays, at least that was the case in a joint document. The current agreement between the federal states states that self-isolation that lasts several days before Christmas can be supported by an anticipated Christmas break from December 19.

North Rhine-Westphalia had initially come forward and announced an earlier start to the holiday. There were protests, among others, from the GEW teachers union and the Association of Mothers and Single Parents in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The Christmas holidays in North Rhine-Westphalia start two days earlier this year. There will be emergency care for students in grades 1-6 on December 21-22. The Education Ministry announced this to all schools in an email on Monday. According to the mail, the teachers are on normal duty both days.

In most federal states, December 18 is the last day of school before Christmas.