Stuttgart (dpa) – Baden-Württemberg is pulling along with the tightening of the nationwide corona lockdown. However, it wants to use its leeway in two decisive points and deviate from the strict requirements as far as possible in favor of daycare centers, schools and freedom of movement. The Southwest will otherwise support the nationwide extension of the lockdown rules until the end of the month, which was originally agreed until January 10th – despite loud calls for help from the retail and hotel sectors. Baden-Württemberg also follows the stricter contact restrictions in the private sector. The new restrictions apply from January 11th.
The Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann, once again asked for patience and understanding in view of the new restrictions. “We are not over the mountain yet,” said the head of government on Tuesday evening after the chancellor’s consultations with the prime minister. “There is still a difficult road ahead of us, probably the most difficult of the pandemic.” He knows that the restrictions “get on everyone’s nerves”. Nevertheless, they would have to be tightened again – “not in bits and pieces, but in such a way that we can achieve lower numbers within weeks and not within months”.
According to the state government’s new plans, elementary schools and daycare centers are to be reopened from January 18, if the number of infections allows. According to the agreement between the federal and state governments, there will be no face-to-face lessons for students in secondary schools until the end of January, said Kretschmann. Special regulations are possible for the graduating classes. Education Minister Susanne Eisenmann (CDU), who vehemently advocated face-to-face teaching in primary schools, welcomed the approach. Most countries, however, want to close schools by the end of January.
The education union GEW welcomed the suspension of face-to-face teaching and the closing of daycare centers for another week. From January 18, however, alternating lessons will be necessary at all types of schools, the GEW demanded. In addition, more must be done nationwide and uniformly to protect daycare centers and schools. Teachers and educators would have to be equipped with certified FFP2 protective masks, air cleaning systems had to be procured and a mask requirement for adults in parts of the daycare centers and primary schools would have to be made.
Only later than planned nationwide, Baden-Württemberg wants to decide whether it will restrict people’s range of motion in counties with high numbers of corona infections. “We are not currently planning that,” said Kretschmann. “We must first come to reliable values next week in order to then decide.”
The federal and state governments had previously agreed that further measures should be taken to limit the range of motion to 15 kilometers around the place of residence in counties with high numbers of corona infections. Exceptions are valid reasons such as the way to work. These expressly do not include day-trip excursions such as the sustained rush in the winter sports areas of the Black Forest and Swabian Alb. How the specifications are to be checked is still completely unclear.
The contact rules will also be tightened again from January 11th. In future, only members of a household will be allowed to meet in public spaces with a maximum of one other person who does not live in the household.
Like the other federal states, Baden-Württemberg went into a far-reaching lockdown on December 16 in order to curb the high number of new corona infections. Numerous shops and service providers have been closed since then. Leisure and cultural facilities also had to close – museums, amusement arcades and swimming pools, for example. Supermarkets, drugstores, banks and petrol stations, among other things, may remain open.
In the opinion of retailers, however, the effects of the extended corona lockdown are a disaster for the industry. “The longer the lockdown lasts, the more companies come to the limits of their possibilities and the more will go bankrupt,” said Sabine Hagmann, the chief executive of the Baden-Württemberg trade association, the “Stuttgarter Zeitung”. In the worst case, one has to expect that the forecast 6,000 closings will double to around 12,000 closings and bankruptcies in the next two years. In the short term, 100,000 jobs would be on the brink, in the long term it would be up to 200,000.
The new lockdown rules also set off an alarm mood in hotels and restaurants. The spokesman for the regional association Dehoga, Daniel Ohl, said: “We are urging that the state enable the companies to survive economically if they have to remain closed to combat the pandemic.” Promised aid payments by the federal government come too late and have not yet “reached the companies as promised”. This also applies to the December aid.
The federal and state governments want to discuss how things will continue in February on January 25th. The number of infections is then decisive. However, the number of reported new corona infections has increased significantly in the southwest. However, it is still difficult to interpret the data because, according to the Robert Koch Institute, corona cases were discovered, recorded and transmitted with a delay around Christmas and the turn of the year.
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