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The loud voices in Germany that contacts should be reduced during the Christmas period and that people should stay home if possible could hardly be heard. Politicians, epidemiologists, doctors – all warned of the consequences if the corona pandemic resumes in late 2020.
In this context, the current images of Germany are striking. Especially in the Metallic Mountains, Sauerland and the Black Forest there was a flood of daytime tourists, some of whom did not adhere to the Crown measures.
The photographs from Saxony, the state where the incidence is by far the highest and where the strictest contact and exit restrictions exist, are particularly striking. There, on the two Christmas holidays alone, the Fichtelberg police in the Ore Mountains, which is popular with tourists, recorded more than 100 violations of Corona’s rules.
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Numerous people were at the Fichtelberg without a necessary valid reason, police said Sunday, according to the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR). On December 25, 54 people were reported, on December 26 52 people for violating the country’s Crown Protection Ordinance.
According to MDR reporters, many people passed without a mask and ignored the minimum distances. The parking spaces were crowded and not only the local license plates were showing. People cannot go further than 15 kilometers from home and, among other things, only when shopping or doing sports.
However, sport is only possible to a limited extent, as the slopes at the top of the Fichtelberg, the highest mountain in the Ore Mountains at 1215 meters, are closed in the valley, as in many German ski areas. Sledding is also not considered a sport. The police had learned of the situation through information from local residents, among other things. Numerous images on social media showed the sometimes dense crowd at the Corona hotspot.
There are photographs of this kind from Winterberg in Sauerland. According to the Westfalenpost, thousands of daytime tourists were there due to snowfall, despite Corona and storm “Hermine”. There, license plates from the entire Ruhr area, Münsterland and Düsseldorf were recognized. Places that are more than 100 kilometers apart.
Many cars had problems with the slippery road and the trucks were also parked sideways: images that were common in previous winters, but this winter are surprising due to the pandemic.
Many parking spaces were completely overcrowded, eyewitnesses reported. On the ski slopes, the lifts are all closed, crowds of people gathered without distance and mostly without masks.
The city estimated the duration of the traffic jams around Winterberg, according to city spokeswoman Rabea Kappen, at a total of 45 kilometers on Sunday. “We haven’t had that many hikers in the last 20 years, probably never before,” Kappen said.
On Monday, both the city of Winterberg and the district police indirectly called on hikers not to go to the winter sports center. “The streets around Winterberg are overcrowded. There are major traffic jams and very long wait times, ”Hochsauerlandkreis district police spokesman Sebastian Held tweeted on Monday.
“It is legally allowed to visit the ski areas. You have to decide for yourself if it is correct and sensible at this point, ”he continued.
Similar images were seen around the Black Forest town of Dobel, but police took action there. According to the Pforzheimer Zeitung, officials blocked the access roads to Dobel when the crowd got too big. The toboggan runs were already full in the morning.
When the parking lots were then completely packed with daytime tourists, the spokesman for the Pforzheim police headquarters made the decision in consultation with the mayor. Only residents and buses were able to pass the police checkpoints. Anyone with a sled in their car had to go back. Cars that had been there previously also parked at the driveways and stopped on private property.
In view of the sometimes chaotic conditions, the state Health Ministry called for restraint on Monday for the upcoming long weekend. “We are calling on people to give up day trips and not exhaust the existing rules,” said a spokesman for the Baden-Württemberg ministry.
He noted that the relaxation of exit restrictions for private gatherings only applies during the Christmas holidays. Even on New Years Eve, New Years and weekends, outdoor sports and exercise are only allowed during the day alone, with members of your own household, or with another person who does not live in the same household.
And tourists in the snow not only caused huge crowds and traffic chaos in Germany: in Austria, however, this is mainly due to the fact that the ski areas are really open.
However, at times there were such huge traffic jams over the weekend that some ski areas pulled the emergency brake and blocked access. The Bodental in Carinthia, which offers winter hiking and cross-country skiing, remained closed on Sunday after Saturday’s rush, as did the toboggan meadows in Semmering about 100 kilometers southwest of Vienna. At Damüls in Vorarlberg, about 70 kilometers south of Lindau on Lake Constance, too large a crowd had to dissolve.
Ski areas in Austria tighten safety regulations
Many ski areas tightened the measures on Monday. In Austria, the strictest safety rules include an additional limitation of parking spaces, more space to queue and more administrators, as the state of Upper Austria announced on Monday.
Many ski areas are open in Austria, but practically only for residents. There is a 10-day quarantine requirement for those arriving from abroad, which discourages most tourists. Furthermore, the particularly effective FFP2 masks are prescribed as mouth and nose protection for all skiers over 14 years of age who use gondolas or chair lifts or have to queue.
The crowd in Damüls was due to the lack of snow in neighboring areas, Andreas Gapp, head of the Vorarlberg cable cars, said on Sunday. We have learned from this and will adapt our concepts as soon as possible ”. Otherwise, he obtained a positive balance from the Christmas days. “People wear the FFP2 mask, keep their distance and accept the rules of the catering trade,” he said.
Austrian Economy Minister Markus Achleitner appealed to winter sports enthusiasts not to hit the ski areas until noon, because by then many guests would be on their way home from morning. His appeals did not help, especially in the Upper Austrian Hinterstoder, Wurzeralm and Kasberg ski areas:
In the Bodental and Semmering areas, it was “lots of vehicles parked by the side of the road” that alerted authorities. In part, access for fire trucks or ambulances was disabled, he said. Hundreds of hikers were on the way and the corona distance rules could no longer be guaranteed.
Semmering tried unsuccessfully on Christmas Day to limit the number of barrier slides. Both parishes closed the roads completely on Sunday. However, the mountain railways continued in Semmering-Hirschenkogel. Ski guests who had booked online could use them. Cable cars have cut their maximum number of guests to less than half due to Corona’s distance rules. (with dpa)
