“Coronavirus Germany: Holidays from December 16 — agreement between the federal and state governments.

21 min readNov 24, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic continues to keep Germany firmly under control: before the Chancellor’s meeting with the country leaders, more and more resolutions are seeping through. You can find everything important about the corona pandemic here in the FOCUS Online news ticker.

Top news about the coronavirus pandemic in Germany and the world

The federal and state governments want stricter requirements for retailers (7:13 p.m.)
Federal and state governments agree: Christmas holidays should be brought forward to December 16 (19:04)
Countries present plan — Merkel announces her own proposals for tomorrow’s meeting (4:21 p.m.)
With lockdown extension: Federal government plans “December aid” for companies of 17 billion euros (2:23 pm)

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Top virologist Drosten: Avoid social situations even when you scratch your throat

7:58 p.m.: To avoid further corona cases, experts believe that people with mild cold symptoms should stay at home even if the family doctor sees no reason for a test. The virologist Christian Drosten called for this in the episode of the “ Coronavirus update” published on Tuesday at NDR-Info. “You shouldn’t go to work sick or sickly, even if your family doctor said we weren’t going to test it now.” In principle, those affected should therefore no longer enter social situations with a scratchy throat or a runny nose in the current phase of the pandemic.

dpa / Markus Schreiber / AP POOL / dpa Virologist Christian Drosten warns of a corona strategy with herd immunity.

The background to this is also the recently amended recommendations of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), which, in view of the limited laboratory capacity, aim to use tests primarily on people with clear symptoms such as pneumonia or loss of smell and taste. According to the RKI recommendation, people who cannot be tested despite symptoms should isolate themselves at home for five days and only stop after another 48 hours without symptoms. Drosten said it would be important if everyone with mild symptoms could get a quick test result as soon as possible, for example from their family doctor.

Compliance with the corona requirements should be more strictly controlled

7.19 p.m.: The federal and state governments want to control compliance with the Corona requirements more strictly across the board . This emerges from an updated version of the country template for the consultations with Chancellor Angela Merkel ( CDU ) on Wednesday that was distributed on Tuesday evening. Accordingly, checks independent of suspicion are also planned, in particular in the border area, in order to check compliance with the quarantine regulations.

The federal and state governments want stricter requirements for retailers

7.13 p.m.: The federal and state governments want stricter requirements for retailers in the Corona crisis . In the shops, it should be ensured that there is no more than one customer per 25 square meters of sales area, as shown in an updated version of the country draft for the consultations with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) that was disseminated on Tuesday evening after discussions between the states and Chancellery chief Helge Braun (CDU) ) on Wednesday. So far, no more than one customer may be per 10 square meters of sales area.

dpa / Henning Kaiser / dpa picture Buyers carry bags and sacks in the Schildergasse shopping street in Cologne.

More alternating classes planned in schools

7:12 p.m.: In countries or regions with many corona infections, concepts such as alternating lessons are to be implemented in schools from grade 7. This emerges from an updated version of the state draft for the consultations with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) on Wednesday, which is available to the German Press Agency, which was distributed on Tuesday evening after discussions between the federal states and Chancellor Helge Braun (CDU). Lessons should also start in staggered form so that the arrival of the students in the morning is smoothed out.

Federal and state governments agree: Christmas holidays should be brought forward to December 16

7:04 p.m.: The Christmas holidays are to be brought forward to December 16 throughout Germany. This emerges from an updated version of the country draft for the consultations with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) on Wednesday, which was distributed on Tuesday evening after the federal states had consulted with Chancellor Helge Braun (CDU). So far, the states wanted to create the possibility that the Christmas holidays nationwide start on December 19th. In the case of cold symptoms before Christmas, a more generous test option should also be offered in order to make the encounters at Christmas time as safe as possible.

Countries present plan — Merkel announces her own proposals for meetings — Holidays from December 16?

4:21 p.m.: Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) welcomed the prime ministers’ proposals to fight the high number of corona infections, but at the same time announced her own proposals to reduce contacts for the negotiations this Wednesday. According to information from the German Press Agency, Merkel said on Tuesday that participants in the virtual meeting of the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag said the paper from the federal states was good, and the deliberations would largely be supported by the federal government. The federal government will make further suggestions, for example where there is a particularly high infection rate. Specific measures may be necessary again in some areas.

Bernd von Jutrczenka / dpa Merkel in conversation with Söder and Laschet at an earlier meeting.

For example, on the subject of “pre-quarantine”, according to information from “ Welt “, Merkel can imagine sending students and teachers on vacation on December 16 in order to further reduce contacts before Christmas.

Referring to the country paper, she said that a common philosophy can be seen, for example, when deriving the measures. The Chancellor also emphasized that not only the federal government is responsible for the money in connection with the measures — it is a joint action by the federal and state governments to reduce the number of infections.

Merkel pointed out that against the background of the Infection Protection Act, measures could only be adopted for a period of four weeks. At the same time, people wanted clarity for Christmas and New Year’s Eve. That is why a way must be found to give people security, as the federal and state governments think in this context. On December 14 or 15, they will connect again to assess where they stand with the infection situation. But there will also be statements about Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

Merkel emphasized that the number of infections is out of the exponential growth, but is on a high plateau. The situation in the federal states is very different — the numbers in Saxony and Berlin are at a high level.

After this information, Merkel emphasized that attempts are being made to make corona rapid tests available on a large scale before Christmas. The Federal Government wanted to “make a little more possible” over Christmas and New Year, the Chancellor was quoted as saying. With a view to the necessary help for the companies affected by the pandemic, Merkel said the goal must be not to spend more than planned over the years 2020 and 2021 overall. The Chancellor also praised the work of the doctors and nurses in the hospitals. You would do a very good and important job.

“Herd immunity uncertain”: Germans’ willingness to vaccinate is no longer high enough — skepticism in the East

4:01 p.m.: According to a study by the University of Hamburg , the willingness of Germans to be vaccinated against the coronavirus has at least stopped the downward trend. While 70 percent of German citizens wanted to be vaccinated in April, at the end of November it was only 57 percent on average in the regions. Intentions are highest in the northern federal states with 63 percent, followed by the west (57 percent) and south (55 percent), while eastern Germany comes in last with 52 percent willingness to vaccinate. The respondents cite concern about possible side effects as the most common reason against vaccination. This is shown by the results of a representative study conducted by HamburgCenter for Health Economics (HCHE), which surveyed more than 7000 people in Germany, Denmark, France , Italy , the Netherlands , Portugal and the UK from November 5th to 16th .

HCHE / screenshot The Germans’ readiness to vaccinate in the Corona crisis.

“After the willingness to vaccinate has continuously decreased since the beginning of the pandemic, the values have stabilized for the first time, albeit at a low level. Whether herd immunity in the population can be achieved in this way remains uncertain, ”says Prof. Dr. Jonas Schreyögg. Other countries are already further along. For example, the values for vaccination readiness in Denmark and Great Britain are significantly higher at 71 and 69 percent.

According to the study, Germans are cautiously optimistic about the coming months. Even if many people are worried about the country’s economic situation, the majority support the measures to contain the corona pandemic . “The new evaluations show that 64 percent of all respondents (in Germany 65 percent) are behind the current lockdown measures,” said Jonas Schreyögg, Scientific Director of the ECHE. Around half of the respondents (46 percent) could even imagine that life in the next few months will be the same as before the corona pandemic.

With lockdown extension: Federal government plans “December aid” for companies of 17 billion euros

2:23 p.m.: If the partial lockdown is extended in December, the federal government is planning financial aid for affected companies in the amount of expected 17 billion euros. The German press agency learned this from government circles on Tuesday. First the newspapers of the Funke media group reported that companies could count on aid amounting to 15 to 20 billion euros.

The federal government had promised to support companies affected by the closings. The federal government is planning around 14 to 15 billion euros for this November aid. This is intended to reimburse lost sales. According to earlier information, the start of the application is planned for this week. The first funds should flow to companies as well as self-employed people such as artists by the end of the month in the form of advance payments.

Corona also in the mink of a farm in Poland

2.20 p.m.: In Poland, scientists have for the first time detected a corona outbreak in mink on a fur farm. An infection with the Sars-CoV-2 pathogen was found in eight animals at a breeding farm in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in the west of the country, the Medical University in Danzig (Gdansk) announced on Tuesday. A total of 91 minks were examined.

dpa Minks stand in their cages in a farm.

Genetic tests are currently being carried out to determine where the virus came from. The results so far therefore point to the possibility that the virus was transmitted from humans to minks. In the past few weeks there have been cases of corona infections in mink in several European countries, including Denmark, Sweden , France and the Netherlands.

Von der Leyen: EU secures 160 million doses of Moderna vaccine

13:03: The Europeans will also get the deemed highly prospective Corona vaccine manufactured by US company Moderna. The EU Commission has negotiated a framework contract for up to 160 million cans, as Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday. The contract is to be formally sealed on Wednesday.

The EU Commission now has contracts with the manufacturers of all three vaccines, which are given the best chance of rapid approval in the coming weeks. In addition to Moderna, these are Biontech / Pfizer and Astrazeneca. All three had announced promising test data in the past few days. Accordingly, all three vaccines are effective and well tolerated.

dpa / Olivier Matthys / AP Pool / dpa EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reports progress in the negotiations on a trade pact for the post-Brexit period.

Corona quarantine for contact persons is to be shortened to ten days

12:02 p.m.: From December 1, a shorter quarantine period of ten instead of the previous 14 days is to apply to contact persons of corona infected people — but on the condition of a negative test. The federal and state health ministers agreed on this. Federal Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) told the newspapers of the Funke media group: “Ten days of quarantine with a rapid test at the end is just as safe as 14 days of quarantine without a test. But it means four days fewer restrictions for those affected”. This is worth shortening the quarantine without taking any additional risk.

The technical recommendations of the federally owned Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for the health authorities are to be adapted accordingly, as the state resolution continues. A first-degree contact person is, for example, someone who has been in closer contact for more than 15 minutes with a distance of less than 1.50 meters from those who tested positive.

dpa / Britta Pedersen / dpa-Zentralbild / dpabild A swab is held in an outpatient corona test facility.

Coronavirus pandemic: funeral with 400 mourners triggers police action

11.34 a.m.: A funeral with around 400 mourners led to a police operation in Bremen. As the officials announced on Tuesday, there were violations of the contact restrictions and hygiene rules. “The total number of events allowed was significantly exceeded,” said a police spokeswoman about the use on Monday.

The officers asked the family member responsible to give in, after which the mourners gradually left the cemetery. The police documented the violations and filed a complaint. The public order office is supposed to take over further investigations. The police called on everyone to follow the rules to contain the coronavirus. “Protect your health and that of those around you.”

Health authorities: Partial lockdown is not yet showing the necessary effects

11.00 a.m.: The partial lockdown does not yet show the necessary effects in contact reduction. “We are only now at a 30–40 percent contact reduction. But we would need a 70 percent contact reduction,” says Ute Teichert, chairman of the professional association of doctors in the public health service on RTL and ntv.

The number of contact persons plays an essential role in managing the contact tracing in the health departments. “In the spring at the time of the first lockdown, we had an average of 2–4 contact persons per case. In the summer it was 30 or, in individual cases, 100, so that the health authorities will benefit especially when the number of contacts goes down”, so Teichert.

Teichert supports the plans of the federal and state governments to further reduce contacts. It is not about closing further facilities, but it depends on the human factor. The individual can ensure that contacts become even fewer, both professionally and privately. “That is exactly what the federal government is planning at the moment,” said Teichert, “if that happens successfully, work in the health authorities will be easier again.”

Bettina Engel-Albustin Dr. Ute Teichert is chairwoman of the Federal Association of Doctors in the Public Health Service.

Lufthansa does not want a corona vaccination certificate from passengers

10:56 a.m.: Unlike the Australian airline Qantas, Lufthansa does not want its passengers to have a corona vaccination certificate. The introduction of such an obligation is currently not planned, said a corporate spokesman in Frankfurt on Tuesday. The national governments of the countries are also responsible for the respective entry requirements. They would first have to create a plan for distributing the vaccination doses ordered as soon as they are available.

Qantas boss Alan Joyce had previously announced that his company would only carry vaccinated passengers on intercontinental flights as soon as a vaccine was available. It has not yet been decided how to proceed with Australian domestic flights.

dpa / Patrick Pleul / dpa-Zentralbild / dpa / symbol image A Lufthansa passenger aircraft is parked at an airport.

Coronavirus pandemic: Doctors boss still expects a long lockdown

10.44 a.m.: The chairman of the World Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, expects the lockdown policy to continue for a long time, despite initial successes. “Only when we have index numbers below 35 new infections again can we relax,” said Montgomery Lauterbach of the “ Augsburger Allgemeine “. Although this value is currently not reached in a single state, the President of the World Doctors rates the previous lockdown measures as a success: “If we had done nothing, we would have 50,000 new infections per day today,” said Montgomery. “The stable plateau is also a success, because before that we had exponential growth.”

Montgomery warned, however, to be patient: “We have to wait at least two weeks for the incubation period until the number of new infections drops,” said the honorary president of the German Medical Association. “And the look out of the window, as well as on television, shows that unfortunately some do not adhere to the rules,” he said. “For the few we need the shutdown, but everyone else suffers from it,” added the medical officer.

dpa / Guido Kirchner / dpa picture World Medical Association Chairman Frank Ulrich Montgomery takes part in the German Medical Congress.

Report: The first intensive care units in NRW are full

07.35 a.m.: In North Rhine-Westphalia, according to a media report, the first intensive care units are full due to the increasing number of Covid-19 intensive care patients. The “ WAZ “ reports and writes that “individual houses” already no longer have any free capacities. In some regions, a critical limit has been reached, the newspaper refers to the Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI).

However, the State Ministry of Health of North Rhine-Westphalia emphasized that there was still sufficient capacity. Currently 637 Covid-19 patients are being ventilated in intensive care units in NRW . That is around 50 percent more than in spring, as the “WAZ” writes. The number of free ventilation places has fallen from 1124 to 897 since the end of October, and the total number of free intensive care beds from 1669 to 1368.

DIVI runs a traffic light system about the utilization of the regions, which reveals strong regional differences. According to the newspaper, for example, several traffic lights are currently red in Duisburg.

Airline Qantas wants to introduce compulsory corona vaccination for air travelers

07.26 a.m.: Out of concern about the further spread of the corona virus , Australia’s national airline Qantas wants to introduce mandatory vaccination for its passengers. As soon as a vaccine is available, the airline’s terms and conditions will be adjusted accordingly, Qantas boss Alan Joyce told Australian broadcaster Nine News on Monday. While the next steps for domestic flights have not yet been decided, the situation with intercontinental flights is clear: “We will require international travelers to be vaccinated before we let them on board.”

In his own words, Joyce assumes that his airline is not alone — rather, similar rules will be introduced worldwide. “I think this will be a normal thing, judging from conversations with my colleagues from other airlines.”

Qantas was founded in 1920 and is one of the oldest continuously operating airlines in the world. Before the corona pandemic, the company carried 50 million passengers around the world every year. Because of the financial slump, Qantas had to cut 6000 of its 29,000 jobs this year.

dpa / Bai Xuefei / Xinhua / dpa A plane operated by the Australian airline Qantas flies over Sydney.

Bavaria prefers the start of the Christmas holidays

06.32 a.m.: Now it’s final: Bavaria is bringing the Christmas holidays forward because of the corona pandemic. The last day of school before Christmas is Friday December 18th. Prime Minister Markus Söder ( CSU ) said that to Bavarian Broadcasting. This means that two school days are no longer applicable: Originally, December 23rd would have been the first day of vacation.

The distance between lessons and Christmas will be increased, said Söder. “This will improve the possibilities for families in Bavaria to celebrate the most important festival of the year in a healthy and carefree way.” The risk of infection is “considerably reduced” by the almost one-week waiting period between school lessons and Christmas, argued the Prime Minister.

Before the new federal-state consultations on the further course in dealing with the coronavirus, the Union-ruled states had spoken out in favor of such an extension of the holidays — at least that was the case in a joint paper. First, North Rhine-Westphalia had submitted and announced an earlier start to the holidays. In most federal states, December 18 is the last day of school before Christmas anyway.

dpa / Sven Hoppe / dpa picture Markus Söder (CSU), party leader and Prime Minister of Bavaria, speaks.

You can read more about this here .

“Population in permanent state of shock”: Doctors criticize corona policy

Tuesday, November 24th, 6:22 am: Professor Matthias Schrappe from the University of Cologne has clearly criticized the German government’s corona policy . The targeted goal is whoever out of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants is a “completely unreal goal,” the doctor told the “ Bild “ newspaper. “The population will be put in a permanent state of shock,” he warned further and warns of an “infinite lockdown”. The lockdown causes a “temporary flattening” of the number of infections, but as soon as it is relaxed, the numbers rise again. So focusing on a fixed target value doesn’t make sense.

In any case, the data on which the measures are based is very poor. Since it is an asymptomatic illness, the number of unreported cases is very high, the professor told the “ZDF”. Little can therefore be said about the actual infection process in Germany. “We are in the range of the assumption that basic rights are being restricted. As a scientist and as a citizen, I consider this to be absurd,” said Schrappe, who from 2007 to 2011 was Vice-Chief of the German Government’s Advisory Council on Health.

Symbol photo: Hauke-Christian Dittrich / dpa

Countries want to extend partial lockdown until just before Christmas — New Year’s Eve point of contention

10:40 p.m.: In view of the persistently high number of corona infections, the countries want to extend the partial lockdown until December 20. The Prime Ministers agreed on this in a switching conference on Monday evening, as the German Press Agency learned from participants. A final decision should be made at the deliberations of the federal and state governments on Wednesday.

If the partial lockdown is extended, restaurants as well as leisure and cultural facilities that have been closed since the beginning of November will remain closed. With the extension of the measures, the continued high contagion numbers should be suppressed.

So far, no uniform line has emerged among the prime ministers of the federal states on the question of a general ban on the sale of New Year’s Eve bollards, as the participants in the deliberations on Monday evening said. It was emphasized that decisions should only be made on Wednesday at the deliberations of the federal and state governments. Accordingly, a ban on fireworks on New Year’s Eve in certain public places was discussed.

The deliberations of the Prime Ministers lasted 4.5 hours. Participants spoke of good advice. On Tuesday there will be renewed consultations between the heads of the state chancelleries and the head of the chancellery, Helge Braun (CDU).

The federal government had already promised to extend the November aid to support the companies affected by closings as well as self-employed people such as artists, if the partial lockdown is extended. This is likely to cost billions more.

Surf tip: Second secret paper surfaced: The Union countries also want to extend the lockdown

More than 200 deaths again — 13,637 new cases in Germany

8.40 p.m.: The number of new corona cases rose by 13,637 to 936,696 on Monday. The number of deaths rose again by more than 200. Exactly 213 new deaths were reported on Monday. This brings the total to 14,221.

It should be noted here that the numbers in Saxony are particularly high this Monday with 3453 new cases and 57 further deaths. This is due to the fact that Saxony reported the numbers for three days on Monday.

The R-value decreased slightly to 1.04. The number of intensive care beds occupied by Covid-19 patients (+33) and invasively ventilated Covid-19 patients (+29) each increased slightly. The number of active cases decreased slightly compared to the previous day.

Number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany rises to 936,696, 14,221 deaths

Here you will find the currently reported figures from the health ministries of the federal states.

Baden-Württemberg: 134,819 (+1246), 2496 deaths (+48)
Bavaria : 183,507 (+2126), 3440 deaths (+14)
Berlin : 57,309 (+805), 456 deaths (+7)
Brandenburg : 16,963 (+324), 312 deaths (+10)
Bremen: 9318 (+18), 112 deaths (+5)
Hamburg: 22,939 (+237), 281 deaths (+0)
Hesse : 76,341 (+552), 1033 deaths (+6)
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: 5247 (+55), 54 deaths (+1)
Lower Saxony: 64,401 (+1118), 1019 deaths (+10)
North Rhine-Westphalia: 233,015 (+2044), 2977 deaths (+21)
Rhineland-Palatinate: 39,250 (+966), 434 deaths (+14)
Saarland: 11,741 (+50), 269 deaths (+9)
Saxony: 44,717 (+3453), 678 deaths (+57)
Saxony-Anhalt: 10,334 (+305), 129 deaths (+7)
Schleswig-Holstein: 13,053 (+145), 234 deaths (+0)
Thuringia : 13,739 (+193), 296 deaths (+3)

Total (as of November 23, 8:40 p.m.): 936,696 (+13,637), 14,221 deaths (+213)

Previous day (as of November 22, 8:51 p.m.): 923,059 (+13,221), 14,008 deaths (+93)

Source for infected and death numbers: State health and social ministries.

The number of convalescent is, according to the Robert Koch Institute in Germany at around 618,800 (+15,000)

The number of active cases is: 303,675 (previous day: 305,251)

Number of reproductions currently reported by the RKI (status: 23.11.): 1.04 (previous day: 1.08)

Number of intensive care beds according to the DIVI intensive care register occupied by Covid 19 patients: 3742 (+33)

Number of Covid 19 patients currently under invasive ventilation : 2161 (+29)

Kretschmann wants to extend the Christmas vacation

6.49 p.m.: Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) is due to the corona pandemic for the students to start the Christmas holidays earlier than previously planned. A government spokesman for the German press agency said on Monday evening that he also wanted to campaign for longer Christmas holidays at the upcoming federal-state switch.

dpa / Sebastian Gollnow / dpabild Winfried Kretschmann (Alliance 90 / The Greens ) sits in the state parliament.

In Baden-Württemberg, as in some other countries, the last day of school is December 22nd (Tuesday). If the students already on 18.12. (Friday) were released on vacation, you would have a stretch of five to six days until Christmas Eve, which you could use to minimize contacts. “Then you will go to your grandparents with a more relaxed feeling on the holidays and celebrate Christmas with your family,” said the State Ministry.