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Chancellor Merkel has agreed with the prime minister stricter rules to combat the corona pandemic in December. Retailers and schools are particularly hard hit. An overview.
Prime Minister and Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) negotiated again, now there are new resolutions. Even before Wednesday’s deliberations there was a dispute over how stringent the measures should be, but also about a possible easing during the December holidays. However, there was agreement on the point of extending the partial lockdown beyond the end of November.
Now these points have been decided:
1. Lock light
The partial blockade will last until December 20; Theaters and cinemas will also remain closed, contrary to what the countries are demanding. At Christmas there should be some relaxation, other restrictions should apply until the end of the year.
2. Christmas and New Years Eve
the Contact restrictions will harden from December 1 (only five people from two households) – with relaxation during the holidays: from December 23, meetings “with close relatives or friends” should be possible, up to a maximum of ten people in total. Associated children up to the age of 14 should be exempt from this.
Chancellor Angela Merkel at Cabinet Meeting: The partial lockdown will extend beyond November. (Source: Michael Kappeler / Reuters)
the Christmas holidays should be almost everywhere in Germany at the same time this year 19. December start. In most other federal states, this date was established as the start of the holidays long before Corona. December 19 is the Saturday before Christmas Eve. With the exception of Bremen and Thuringia, the holidays should start everywhere on this day. According to a resolution on Wednesday, the two countries reserve the right to “regulations of each country regarding the start of the holidays.”
3. Contact restrictions
To contain the corona pandemic, private gatherings with friends, relatives and acquaintances are limited to a maximum of five people from your own home and another home. Children up to 14 years old are not covered by the regulation.
4. New corona limit value
The federal and state governments agreed to toughen areas with particularly high crown numbers: from one Incidence of 200 should additional strict measures It will enter in vigor. These include regulations in the area of schools and retail, as well as other contact restrictions. However, there is no automatism, Hessian Prime Minister Volker Bouffier said after the negotiations. “We deliberately did not write which ones.”
5. Schools
In Germany, a large-scale switch to so-called alternate lessons is not planned despite persistently high crown numbers. Merkel and prime ministers agreed that alternate lessons in divided groups at home and at school will continue to be decided on the spot, depending on regional Corona numbers.
In a joint decision document of the federal and state governments, it is stated that “new measures for the design of” school-specific “lessons should be implemented in case of an infection with an incidence of more than 200 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants per week. The so-called “hybrid lessons” are also not mentioned as mandatory, but only as an example of any additional measures. Additionally, these measures should be limited to eighth graders, with the exception of final grades.
It was also agreed that a mask is required in class starting in the seventh grade, also depending on the regional Corona numbers. The document cites “significantly more” than 50 new infections per 100,000 residents as a fuzzy border. However, in most federal states it has long been mandatory to wear a mask in class from the fifth grade, in Bavaria even in primary schools. More recently, there was no nationwide mask requirement in class only in Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
6. Retailer
In Stores Out of a total area of 800 square meters, in the future one customer is allowed for every 20 square meters. So far, one customer is allowed on ten square meters; This rule remains in effect for smaller businesses.
7. Oral and nasal protection
The mask requirement in retail will also apply in the future in front of stores and in parking lots, a point for the federal states.
8. Gastronomy, culture, leisure
The leisure and cultural facilities and restaurants will be closed, initially until December 20, but in the end probably beyond the turn of the year.
9. Ban on firecrackers
Private fireworks are still allowed, but should be banned on busy streets and squares. This is to avoid large crowds on New Years Eve. The exact form of the rule is left to the cities and municipalities, the federal and state governments want to recommend an exemption for New Year’s Eve wild boars. Public fireworks will be prohibited.
10. Ski holidays
The federal government and the federal states want to reach a coordinated European regulation to prevent ski tourism before January 10. “The federal government is asked to work at the European level to ensure that ski tourism is not allowed until January 10,” the negotiations said.
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11. Corona tests
There should be more testing: The federal government wants to allow people with cold symptoms to have a corona test, the federal states increasingly rely on rapid antigen tests to uncover chains of infection.
12. Stronger controls
The federal government wants to more closely monitor compliance with crown rules, for example, with controls that are independent of suspicions. Employers should consider company vacations and more home office.
13. Deutsche Bahn
Additional measures are planned at Deutsche Bahn in the Corona crisis. The “seating capacity” will be significantly increased to allow even more distance between travelers. It is conceivable to use more trains. At the same time, seat reservations will be restricted.
The mask’s controls will be further strengthened so that many more long-distance trains can be controlled every day, he said. In rail transport, travelers who have to travel despite restrictions should receive a reliable offer, with the possibility of maintaining a good distance.
14. Federal states
According to the resolutions of the Crown Summit, the federal states can decide in the future, depending on the contagion situation, whether to relax or tighten the measures.
Up in the video or here see Angela Merkel’s statements on the new rules after the end of the Corona summit.
RKI: death rate at its highest level
The deliberations had started on Wednesday afternoon. In the morning, the Robert Koch Institute had more than 18,500 new infections reported, a thousand cases more than a week ago. Furthermore, a new record with 410 coronavirus-related deaths has been reported.
Growth in the number of new infections has stalled since the partial lockdown began in early November, but it is not slowing down. Lothar Wieler, director of RKI, described it as a “plateau” last week.
