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Saxony has already advanced: Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) announced a tough blockade on Tuesday. In the Free State in the east, which is particularly hard hit by corona infection numbers, schools, kindergartens, after-school care centers and outlets will be closed starting next week. , with the exception of essential supplies.
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In the Free State, in the south, things also get more difficult: Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) supports the “strict lockdown” required by the Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences with company closings, but not until Christmas.
Due to the persistently high number of corona infections, there is also a growing demand across the country to restrict public life much more than before. It is unclear whether the federal government and the prime minister will meet again before Christmas to discuss this. Announced Tuesday morning Brandenburg Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) in the RBB, however, a change this Thursday. Not all country leaders had previously deemed this necessary, including Berlin Mayor Michael Müller (SPD).
So far, a new prime minister conference is scheduled for January 4. Still, politicians are concerned that after five weeks of the partial lockdown there is no decline in the number of new infections in sight. Germany is far from the goal of reducing the number to less than 50 per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days. No federal state is currently below the mark.
the Members of the Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences He called Tuesday to use the holidays and the turn of the year for a hard lockdown. “From December 24, 2020 until at least January 10, 2021, public life should be practically inactive throughout Germany and a strict lockdown should be applied,” the recommendations say.
The most pressing questions right now are: Will stores and schools remain open? And how many people can I see in the next few weeks? An overview of the current situation.
business
Depends on Experts from the Leopoldina National Academy All stores, except those for daily use, must be closed. Among other things, Belgium already had its Crown figures under control and that is how Saxony will keep it from next Monday. Bavaria wants to close the stores from Christmas, Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) announced on Tuesday.
The German Trade Association (HDE) warns against it. “The retail sector has clearly demonstrated that safe shopping is possible even in times of pandemic if all hygiene and distance rules are observed. Therefore, a new shutdown would not only be disproportionate, but also counterproductive with a view to a possible panic buy, ”HDE President Josef Sanktjohanser said in a letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday.
Such a step will have “fatal economic consequences” for urban commerce, which is already in grave danger. “In addition to the week before Christmas Eve, the time between Christmas and New Years is the time of the Christmas business with the highest turnover, which can account for up to a quarter of annual turnover,” wrote Sanktjohanser. In the event of a tighter lockdown, retailers could lose sales of up to € 1 billion per day.
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) he’d brought up shop closings, at least after Christmas. So that people could stock up on gifts beforehand. too Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) did not rule out the possibility of a new lockdown on retail. “We have to make that dependent on the next few days if we can cut the numbers,” Spahn said.
The ruling mayor of Berlin Müller (SPD) it was open to further restrictions on trade and schools after Christmas. “There is also no reason to buy a sweater on December 28, you can do it beforehand,” he said on ARD’s “Morgenmagazin”.
He expressed himself reluctantly Brandenburg Prime Minister Woidke about the topic. “We should talk to each other first and then evaluate it. A closed retail store would have many consequences. It bothers me that another fair opens with a lot of suggestions before we’ve talked about it, ”Woidke said.
schools
the Nationalakademie Leopoldina believes that it makes sense to extend the Christmas holidays in educational institutions until January 10. In the opinion of health experts, compulsory schooling should be suspended from now until the start of the Christmas holidays in the respective federal states.
The education administration in Berlin consider extending the Christmas holidaysnorth until January, he said Berlin Senator for Economic Affairs Ramona Pop (Greens) on Tuesday. In Saxony it is now Part of the harsh blockade that schools will close next Monday. Bavarian Prime Minister Söder He also supported the Leopoldina’s demands on Tuesday.
He had already announced on Sunday that in his federal state from the eighth grade onward, classes would be divided everywhere and switched to alternate lessons. In hotspots with an incidence of 200 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in a week, eighth graders should move fully into distance education.
In the Regen district of Lower Bavaria, which had an incidence value of almost 570 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days on Monday, this was implemented on Monday. There, students of all grades receive distance lessons from Wednesday.
Criticism of Bavaria’s approach came from North Rhine-Westphalia: with it there would be no closures in the entire area, he said Seal of NRW Minister of Families, Joachim (FDP) on Tuesday. “Even in this pandemic, children have the right to individual support, loving accompaniment and contact with their friends,” said the deputy prime minister.
Contact restrictions
The Leopoldina You were also quick to move on on this point: the regulation of up to five people from two households is too high for you. In his opinion, contacts in the professional and private sphere should be kept to the absolute minimum necessary.
That means: it would be more effective to abstain from all social contacts outside your own home during this period. De facto, that would mean that Germany should return to the conditions of spring, when people should only meet people from their own home and their partners.
Demands for tougher measures also come from President of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery. He told the “Rheinische Post”: “Everywhere in Germany, where the number of infections is high, we need strict exit restrictions until Christmas, when people are only allowed to leave the house for good reason.”
SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach clearly rejects relaxation on New Year’s Eve, with the high death toll there is not much to celebrate. “It cannot be that while thousands are fighting for their lives in intensive care units, we are celebrating the New Year with more infections,” he said. Lauterbach. It looks different with Christmas. “Celebrating Christmas is a compromise between what is medically useful and what we humanly owe to each other,” Lauterbach said. “We have to impose a tougher shutdown after Christmas.”
too Federal Minister of Health Spahn considers stricter contact restrictions necessary if the high number of infections does not decrease in the near future. “The short and broad approach to really making a difference is probably the most successful. If we don’t get there with the development of the next week or two until Christmas, then we have to discuss it, ”Spahn told Phoenix television station.
Berlin declared from the beginning that I will not have any relaxed contact on Christmas and New Years Eve.. “Christmas is a family celebration. But we all have to deal with it responsibly this year, “he said. Pop Economy Senator on Tuesday.
The federal and state governments agreed to allow ten more children to attend family reunions from December 23 to January 1 at the latest. Otherwise, a maximum of five people from two households can be together. Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg have already limited easing to December 23, 26 and 27, respectively.. In Berlin, a maximum of five people is allowed during the entire holiday.
The newspaper “Bild” reported that it should tough measures after the holidays until the beginning of the year give. There is talk of leaving supermarkets open only between December 27 and January 3 or 10. According to information from dpa, there are still no concrete measures that have been discussed in depth.
The general manager of the German Association of Cities and Towns, Gerd Landsberg, advocated for stricter wreath rules for after Christmas. He called the desired relaxation on New Year’s Eve at the “Passauer Neue Presse” “illusory”. FDP Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki however, he doubts the effectiveness of a two-week blockade. At the same time, he warned in the “Passauer Neue Presse” that a confinement of three or four weeks “would further shake the confidence of the population.” (with dpa, AFP)
