Concern about rising infection rates Corona incidence numbers in Bonn at critical limit
Bonn/Berlin · The number of corona infections in Bonn and the region is rising steadily. If they exceed the incidence value of 50, overnight stays might get banned for people from the region in some destinations in Germany.
The city of Bonn is heading towards the critical level of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the last seven days. On Tuesday, late afternoon, the critical seven-day incidence was 47.27 according to the city administration - on Monday it was 41.21. Above a value of 50, Bonn - as Cologne and many other cities in Germany - will have to impose significant restrictions. In Cologne, for example, there will be a 1.00 a.m. curfew for restaurants and bars from this Wednesday until further notice. For Bonn, it is now becoming apparent that the first official game of the Telekom Baskets will take place on Saturday evening without spectators.
In the Rhein-Sieg district, the seven-day incidence on Tuesday rose to 42.1 new infections per 100 000 inhabitants. In view of the current corona situation, the city of Siegburg and the organisers cancelled the medieval Christmas market for this year. The district of Neuwied reached the warning level "red" on Tuesday: The crisis management team reported a seven-day incidence value of 52.9 in the evening.
Anyone coming from an area with an incidence number of 50 or more is affected by, among other things, a ban on accommodation in several federal states. To be able to stay in a hotel or guesthouse there, a negative corona test not older than 48 hours must be presented. This regulation causes uncertainty for many people from Bonn and the region, hoteliers and travel agencies are already struggling with low booking numbers and cancellations during the autumn holidays. For this reason, they are calling for uniform regulations throughout Germany.
The dispute about the accommodation bans is also the subject of the meeting of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) with the Minister Presidents in Berlin this Wednesday. Heads of government such as Manuela Schwesig (SPD) in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Markus Söder (CSU) in Bavaria defended this measure in view of the rising number of infections. On Tuesday, these were again above the 4000 mark nationwide.
Other state leaders were critical. NRW, Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg, among others, had put the regulation on hold to await the decisions of the Minister-Presidents' Conference. NRW Minister-President Armin Laschet (CDU) said: "We need the right kind of protection, so everyone must focus on really effective measures". This included clear and consistent rules in the hotspots which were binding and comprehensible for all citizens.
Laboratories on the verge of getting overburdened
Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU), President of the Bundestag, defended the responsibility of the Länder in the current corona situation. "Federalism proves its worth. You can't generally lump together the incidence of infection; the situation in a village in the Black Forest and Berlin-Mitte, for example, is too different for that," said Schäuble in an interview with our editorial staff.
Meanwhile, medical laboratories in Germany are on the verge of being overburdened by corona tests for holidaymakers since several countries have banned accommodation. "Since the Minister President's decision to ban accommodation, the use of these tests in Berlin has increased dramatically since Friday," said the Chairman of the Accredited Laboratories in Medicine (ALM), Michael Müller, to our editorial team. "This makes it even more difficult to test infected persons, contact persons and vulnerable groups in already heavily utilised laboratory capacities, because the test resources are used for the 'domestic holiday travel tests without cause'", the association criticised.
(Original text: Bettina Köhl, Alexander Hertel and Kerstin Münstermann / Translation: Mareike Graepel)
