Coronavirus: Germany’s confusing patchwork of restrictions
Germany’s latest guidelines aimed to curb the spread of the coronavirus are affecting everyday life across the county. Even the highest court is being impacted: The Constitutional Court, in the south-western city of Karlsruhe, is due this week to discuss CETA, a controversial trade deal between the EU and Canada. Left Party Bundestag MP Amira Mohamed Ali is one of the plaintiffs and needs to attend. But the government of Baden-Württemberg, where Karlsruhe is located, has imposed an “accommodation ban” on travelers from high-infection areas, like Berlin. So, Ali will have to get up bright and early to make the six-hour journey to Karlsruhe, where the hearing will start later than usual. And in the evening embark on another six-hour journey back to Berlin — unless she decides on a stop-over on the way in the state of Thüringen, which has decided against such a ban. No wonder people are confused!
Impact on tourism
The new magic formula in Germany’s battle against the virus is to measure the number of new cases per 100,000 residents in one area in the course of seven days. If the figure is over 50, then that town or regions become a high-risk area.
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That list already includes most of Germany’s most populous citiesand much of the densely-populated north-western state of North-Rhine Westphalia.
This, of course, worries people in sparsely-populated regions like Schleswig-Holstein in the north, which live off tourism. They worry that travelers from high-risk regions will bring the virus to rural areas like theirs, where the numbers have so far been low.
Nevertheless, Manuela Schütze of the “Schleswig-Holstein Tourism Agency” told DW: “There is no entry ban in our state. The list of areas worst hit by the seven-day formula is constantly being brought up to date and anybody who comes from those regions has to have a negative corona test from the last 48 hours.” Exceptions are, however, made for people visiting family members and business travelers.
With most of Germany’s federal states now calling on people to take tests before traveling, there have beenlong lines at testing pointsin places like Berlin. Many Germans skipped their traditional summer holidays in southern Europe. Now, more than ever, they hope to enjoy the fall break, even if it only means just a few days off inside Germany’s borders.
So are the politicians going to back down on the “accommodation ban”?
Berlin’s mayor, Michael Müller of the social democrats (SPD), told public broadcaster ZDF that he believed that enforcing such a ban between Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg, was absurd, given the hundreds and thousands of commuters who regularly travel between the two.
Christian Lindner, leader of the business-friendly opposition free democrats (FDP), said: “This across-the-board clampdown on freedom of movement within Germany is out of all proportion.”
Avoiding a new lockdown at all cost
As coronavirus infection rates are once again on the rise, a raft of new regulations have been implemented,which again vary from state to state.
But all politicians want to ensure that schools and childcare centers remain open this time around. They especially want to prevent a re-run of the lockdown that badly hit the German industry and business earlier in the year.
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“We need regulations that allow economic activity to continue to flourish, instead of getting in the way of business,” economist Clemens Fuest, head of the influential German Ifo Institute for Economic Research, stressed on Monday.
That sentiment was echoed by Economics Minister Peter Altmaier of the governing conservative Christian Democrats (CDU): “We have learned a lot in the last six months. “We now know much more about what is dangerous and what is not,” he told the mass-circulation Bild newspaper
Most experts agree that travelers returning from holidays in the summer months were responsible for a significant rise in infections. But now they mainly blame social gatherings without masks or social distancing for the latest rapid increase.
So most states have implemented restrictions on the number of people who can meet in public. Berlin has ordered bars and restaurants to close by 11 o’clock in the evening. Violation of the ban can carry a fine of up to 5000€ ($5900.) Bavaria has introduced a 250€ fine for anybody who refuses to wear a mask as stipulated.
The 16 state premiers are to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday in a fresh attempt to streamline the measures.
Virologist Christian Drosten, who has become a household name in recent months, has warned: “The virus will spread more and more; and we will increasingly find ourselves in a situation where we have to adopt uniform measures.” For the time being though, such a streamlined approach seems a long way off in Germany, where federal structures are hampering a unified approach.
This article was translated from German.
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-germany-s-confusing-patchwork-of-restrictions/a-55249978?maca=en-rss-en-ger-1023-xml-atom