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After a single woman apparently infected dozens of people in bars in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, authorities are looking for contact persons. Violating quarantine rules could be costly for the 26-year-old.
Top Values In The Valley – Because a young woman did not adhere to quarantine rules and instead went out at night, the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen is one of the new crown hot spots in Bavaria.
Photo: Imago
The queues that temporarily formed in front of the Corona test center at the Alpspitz wave pool over the weekend showed that previous infection figures are unlikely to hold up. Because the results of the many additional tests of the weekend are not expected until this Monday. And on Friday and Saturday alone, the Garmisch-Partenkirchen health department had already recorded 37 new infections. Presumably a single young woman apparently infected other people. Despite mild symptoms of the disease, she failed to comply with the authority’s quarantine requirements and instead went to bars and pubs at night to celebrate. Garmisch-Partenkirchen is now one of the new corona hot spots in Bavaria.
According to the Garmisch district office, the 26-year-old had returned from his vacation in Greece at the end of August. It remains to be seen whether or not he brought the virus with him until he returned to Germany. However, according to the district office, he should have quickly immersed himself in the local nightlife, apparently despite the symptoms of the disease. Last Tuesday, the woman was tested for these symptoms and was placed in quarantine until the results were received, the authority said. However, she went to a Garmisch cocktail bar that same night, and still without a test result, and she probably infected several guests.
Of the roughly three dozen new confirmed infections, 24 occurred at Garmisch Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, a U.S. armed forces vacation and recreation facility, essentially only accessible to active and former U.S. soldiers and your families. The 26-year-old, who is herself a US citizen, works there and is now suspected of having infected numerous colleagues as a “super contagious.”
The measures have been tightened
Until then, the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district, with the exception of tourism problems, had come through the pandemic quite well. But because it only has a good 88,000 residents, the new infections, coupled with previous cases, caused the seven-day incidence to immediately rise above the critical 50 mark. After a crisis meeting Friday morning evening, the district office ordered that the curfew for restaurants in the commercial city of Garmisch-Partenkirchen be brought forward to 10 p.m. At the moment no more than five people are allowed to gather in public, for private events there is a maximum of 50 people in closed rooms and 100 outdoors.
The exceptions were a protest march against heavy excursion traffic on Saturday and an event announced for Sunday by the farmers’ association on the wolf issue. Both rallies, in which up to 400 participants were expected, were canceled on short notice by the organizers. The US military announced that they would close their Edelweiss apartment for two weeks.
According to information from Mayor Elisabeth Koch (CSU), they had flown in their own medical staff from the US military hospital in Landstuhl in Rhineland-Palatinate. However, the health department also sent employees to the US facility Responsibilities are likely not clearly regulated, said district office spokesman Stephan Scharf. In practice, cooperation is mainly based on goodwill, but it is not yet easy.
Tourists leave early
District administrator Anton Speer (FW) says he is “very angry” for the 26-year-old. According to official spokesman Scharf, it is still being examined whether to wait for a fine or a criminal case. Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) called for consequences on Sunday. “A clear signal” must be sent against “such cruelty,” he tells Münchner Merkur. In the case of quarantine violations, there is a risk of a fine of up to 2000 euros, for violations of the new general order the district office threatens up to 250,000 euros. However, it is urgent to break the chains of infection. In particular, the authority has asked all young people between the ages of 18 and 35 to undergo corona tests.
Schools are expected to encourage all older students to take the tests this Monday. The district office surmises that the youngest in particular could have met the 26-year-old at the Garmisch cocktail bar and in an Irish pub. Both places had hygiene concepts. There is no indication that this could have been violated. But there is also no capacity anywhere for perfect supervision. Red Cross helpers take the cuts in the Alpspitz-Bad. Many of them received training in disease control before the G7 summit in nearby Elmau.
But they also failed to protect the place from the first consequences: According to Mayor Koch, some tourists have already decided to leave early, while others have canceled reservations. In addition to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, three Bavarian cities were above the 50 value for the seven-day incidence, according to data from Saturday. Tighter restrictions apply in Rosenheim and Würzburg. Kaufbeuren attributes the increase to an outbreak in a nursing home and refrained from adjusting it.
