The corona virus from Carrara to China

MURSKA SOBOTA, SLOVENIA

Aleksander Jevek (59) is Mayor of Murska Sobota. From mid-March to May 4, everything was blocked because of the virus, he reports: schools, inns, shops, churches. Citizens had to stay in the community where they live. Eight out of 11,200 residents in his city were infected with the corona virus, and there were no deaths. “All patients are well healed. Fortunately we didn’t have any bottlenecks, ”he says. “In the meantime, everyday life has normalized.” Masks are mandatory in public places, restaurants are open again and since the beginning of June all primary school pupils have returned to class, as well as kindergarten children. “Only the middle school students – except the Matura class – will finish this school year from home,” says Jevek. There are currently no public events, the city festival, which traditionally takes place in late June, has been canceled. But unlike in Germany, “gatherings of up to 200 people are allowed in Slovenia”, provided a minimum distance. The crisis had above all triggered economic problems: “We will have to wait for investments in the municipal infrastructure that we have planned.” More has now been invested in social assistance for companies and individuals. “Hopefully,” says Jevek, “unemployment will not increase in our city.”

KRAGUJEVAC, SERBIA

Radomir Nicolic (44) is the mayor of Kragujevac. Serbia declared the state of emergency in mid-March and lifted it on May 6th. In Kragujevac there were only 68 cases with 150,850 inhabitants, no new infections since April 26. “But that doesn’t mean that precautionary measures are no longer required,” says Nicolic. The city’s crisis team continued to work. Measures such as the mask requirement and distance rules will continue to be maintained. Children can go back to kindergarten, but only if both parents have to work. Public transport is available and restaurants are open. “We have to learn to live with the virus and to respect epidemiologists’ recommendations to prevent us from being thrown back two months.” The citizens behaved disciplined and in solidarity. What worries him most is the financial ramifications. The decline in revenue in the city was noticeable. The local economy used state aid and was exempt from income tax for three months. “This is a blow to the city’s budget.” There is no answer as to when it’s all over. “It’s a big social challenge. And there is always the possibility of new restrictions when the virus returns. ”

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF MOSCOW, RUSSIA

Alexander Bubman (78) had been in charge of the partnership between the Moscow Central District and Ingolstadt for years, he was there when the exchange was launched in 1988. Bubman hopefully describes the current situation. There is no panic in the population, the mood is rather optimistic. The measures are currently somewhat stricter than in Ingolstadt, but one hopes that there will be easing soon. One should only leave the house for the bare essentials, for shopping, for the way to work or to see a doctor – not an easy situation. “I used to be very active, now I have to stay at home,” says Bubman. Every day there is new information about the current figures and Bubman sees Russia well equipped medically. “Every day, more people are tested, new hospitals are built and the number of healthy people increases.” He is in regular contact with his Ingolstadt friends, still feels connected to the city partnership and emphasizes: “The friendship with Ingolstadt is much stronger as an illness. ”

GYR, HUNGARY

Csaba A. Dzsi (58) is a mayor and doctor in Gyr. Restriction measures were taken there in mid-March, which can now be eased gradually. According to Dzsi, the obligation to wear a mask in closed rooms and a ban on visiting old people’s homes still apply. For older people there is a shopping time zone between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. Day care centers have been open since the end of May.
“It seems that we are over the mountain, life is restarted,” says Dzsi. Nevertheless, the pandemic presented the economy and the tourist industry with special challenges. For this reason, the city has created, for example, a relief fund and rents or halved rents for social housing and business premises. The aid fund provided masks for the hospital and food packages were donated to those in need. Young people who needed help at the time of digital distance learning were given tablets. There are no medical bottlenecks.
The mayor also speaks losses in everyday life: “My greatest suffering is that I have already missed many rock concerts for which I have already bought tickets, for example Aerosmith or Rammstein.” At the end of August, however, the band Slade should appear on Rathausplatz and in September Bruce Dickinson, the singer of Iron Maiden. He will make music together with the Gyr Philharmonic Orchestra. “We’re working to keep Gyr a liveable, human, thriving city.”

CARRARA, ITALY

Gabriele Giuntoni (62) is a tourist guide in Carrara and married to an Ingolstadt native. In the province of Massa-Carrara there were 450 people with Corona – the youngest patient was one year old, the oldest 100. 110 people died. “The last sick person was discharged from the hospital yesterday,” Giuntoni reports on Friday. Unlike in Lombardy, Carrara got off lightly. This is also due to the fact that many hospitals in Lombardy are privately financed – this made it more difficult for the clinics to work with the state during the wave of infections. It was different in Tuscany. “But the fear was still great.” An illness for which there is no remedy is no longer used. The slump in tourism hit him hard. “We had to lock everything up first.” Work has been allowed since May 30th and visitors are coming back slowly, says Giuntoni. State aid, which arrived very quickly, was a great help for the guide. The situation in Italy is normalizing, people are wearing their masks, sticking to the distance rules – not so easy for the Italians, says Giuntoni, in whose mentality physical closeness is much more present than maybe in Germany. “The Italians are very disciplined. There are rules you can get used to. ”Giuntoni has been able to go out to eat with his family a few times, the tables in the restaurants are partly shielded from each other by plastic walls. But it was a bit normal that people longed for this long time.

MANISA, TRKEI

Firat zcan, 39, is the chair of the Department of Culture and Social Affairs in Manisa. He says Corona hit Turkey late, but then soon in every corner of the country. There are no exact figures for the city, the ministry only publishes the nationwide infections. The metropolitan community of Mansisa has implemented a number of measures against the spread of the virus in the past few months, reports zcan: the streets and buses have been disinfected, the city has distributed a million masks to citizens, and the city’s employees have been working from home or half-time. The mayor continuously asked people to stay at home. There was a curfew for citizens over 65 and under 18, even on weekends for everyone. Restaurants and shops – with the exception of the food supply – were closed for two months. “Now the process of normalization has started. We pay attention to distances and wear masks, ”says zcan. Before entering shops, fever is measured. According to zcan, the biggest problems in Manisa arise on the economic side, but the government supports the needy. “Most people at the moment are afraid that the infection numbers will increase again. I think people will have these worries until a vaccine is found. ”

FOSHAN, CHINA

The request for current information on the situation in Foshan was sent to the twin city via the city of Ingolstadt at the beginning of June. The local authorities have now announced that they will not be able to issue any information on the current situation before the end of June, so a detailed report from Foshan will have to wait a little longer. At the end of February, Audi temporarily shut down its plant in Foshan and Changchun (in the north of the country). However, production started again at the end of February. In mid-April, Foshan donated 10,000 masks for the medical sector to the city of Ingolstadt (DK reported).

GRASSE, FRANCE

Annie Duval is a long-term city councilor for sustainability in Grasse and also oversees the Grasse-Ingolstadt-Legmoin project partnership in Burkina Faso. She says the city wasn’t hit by the pandemic that dramatically. So there were comparatively few victims in Grasse.
After the massive restrictions in the wake of the health emergency, France is now in the second phase of easing, the “reconfinement”. This means that restaurants, bars and cafes are open again in the partner city of Grasse – but in compliance with strict hygiene regulations. In the entire Provence-Alpes-Cte d’Azur region, to which Ingolstadt’s French partner city also belongs, around 17,200 people have so far been tested positively and almost 800 people are treated in hospitals. According to the regional health authority, around 2,000 patients who tested positive have died since the pandemic started in connection with Covid 19. According to Duval, who answered the DK request on May 18, of the approximately 5,000 daycare and elementary school children from Grasse, only about a third went to public institutions, “but there will surely be more soon.” Despite the reconfinement, the city center of Grasse is not very busy, and there are more people on the nearby coast and beaches. She believes that resuming normal life will be difficult. smr / Photo: City of Ingolstadt

KIRKCALDY, SCOTLAND

Robert Main (66) is Chairman of the Kirkcaldy-Ingolstadt Association (KIA) and has been a regular guest in Ingolstadt since the 1960s. Councilor Neil Crooks (64) is the Chairman of the Kirkcaldy Area Committee of the Scottish District Fife. According to the government, there are currently just over 15,600 corona infected people, around 2,500 of the patients who tested positive died. “However, the numbers are falling,” reports Robert Main. The situation in Scotland is also very different from England, where the situation is still dramatic. “The health care system in Scotland was never overwhelmed,” said Councilor Crooks. In nursing homes, however, it was found that employees lack protective equipment. In Fife, only 14 percent of nursing homes are financed by local authorities, the rest privately. Every Thursday the medical staff is applauded and the church bells are rung. Similar to Germany, operations have been postponed and intensive care units increased. The bulk of deaths occur in Scots in nursing homes and hospitals.

In the meantime, up to eight Scots can meet if they come from a maximum of two households. Social distancing in Scotland means two meters apart and no meetings in the interior. More and more shops are opening again, but not restaurants or pubs. “I think that’s what people miss the most,” says Main. Crooks also believes that. He also says, “The biggest change is how quiet it has become without people and traffic.” According to Main, another guideline stipulates that people cannot travel more than five miles (about eight kilometers). On the other hand, people are encouraged to go for a walk, exercise in the fresh air or cycling. “This means that fewer people drive a car, which protects the environment.”

At the local level, people try to help those in need, for example with food donations. According to Crooks, the biggest concern is to unlock the lockdown too quickly and as a result, the spread of the virus is out of control. It is also difficult to create secure work and social spaces, especially in the education sector. The school is due to start again on August 11, and at the moment there is intensive preparation for it. “It is very unlikely that school will be normal again. It will be more like a combination of attendance classes and homeschooling. ”
Robert Main also does not expect tourism in Bldd to be rebuilt in the same way as in European countries. Anyone entering the United Kingdom will still have to go to quarantine for two weeks. “Of course, the lack of tourism is a major loss to the Scottish economy,” says Main. And as far as the town partnership with Ingolstadt is concerned, some events and visits to the Corona crisis have fallen victim to or been postponed, including the State Garden Show, the marathon, the student exchange or a beer and music festival in Scotland. “The connection is also strong during times of lockdown, the partnership continues. Even if it is always nicer to meet face to face. ”

OPOLE, POLAND

Beate Bonk (60), a graduate designer from Ingolstadt, moved back to her Polish hometown at the beginning of the year to start a new life with her old love. Together with the painter Roman Schmelter, she planned to open a gallery for fashion and art in Ingolstadt’s twin city. Then came Corona: According to official information, around 770 infected people and 49 deaths are currently confirmed for Opole. “These numbers should be nice,” Bonk suspects. “At the beginning, too few tests were carried out.” In the media, instead of the pandemic, the focus was always on postponed elections. “Corona is secondary,” says Bonk. In Poland more than in Germany, the requirements were largely relaxed: in restaurants, for example, guests do not have to fill out questionnaires. “There is even a big cultural night at the end of the month. Everything normalizes. The situation was not as dramatic as was initially feared, ”reports the designer and tells how in the beginning announcements rang out from the town hall tower and people were asked to stay at home. “It was scary. The city was dead. The Poles are very disciplined and strictly adhere to the hygiene regulations. ”At the beginning of May, the Bonk Art Gallery opened in Opole – Corona-related without the planned lavish party. “But it was already gigantic for us in the first week.” Smr / Photos: Instagram account Stadt Opole, private

CORONA NUMBERS IN THE REGIONS OF THE PARTNER TOWNS

The corona numbers change daily – from some partner cities there are details of our interlocutors, some of them no reliable sources. However, the situation in the countries of these cities is updated daily by the Johns Hopkins University.

• In Italy, a total of 236 142 people were infected, 34 167 died and 171 338 recovered. There is also information for Tuscany, where Carrara is located: 10 158 infected, 1079 dead, no information about those who have recovered.
• In France there are 188,354 infected, 29,287 dead, 72,269 recovered.
• In Poland there are 28 577 infected, 1222 dead, 13 805 recovered.
• There are 12 175 infected, 252 dead, 11 411 recovered in Serbia.
• In Turkey there are 174 023 infected, 4763 dead, 147 860 recovered people.
• For the Moscow metropolitan region (not the central district), 202,935 people were infected and 3,187 people died. Russia has a total of 510 761 infected, 6705 dead, 268 862 recovered.
• In the Guangdong region, where Foshan is located, 1607 people are infected and 8 dead. In China as a whole there are 84,220 cases, 79,469 people recovered, 4,638 deaths.
• In Hungary there are 4053 infected, 555 dead, 2447 recovered.
• In Scotland there are 15,682 infected people, 2,434 dead, no information about those who have recovered. In the UK as a whole, there are 292,860 infected, 41,364 dead and 1,279 recovered.
• In Slovenia there are 1490 infected, 109 dead, 1359 recovered.

Source: Johns Hopkins University, as of Friday, June 12

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