Free state gives 190 million for air purifiers
Tuesday, July 6th, 12.42 p.m .: The Free State of Bavaria is providing schools with 190 million euros to equip classrooms with air purification devices. This was announced by State Chancellor Florian Herrmann (CSU) on Tuesday after the cabinet meeting in Munich. The money should be able to supply around 60,000 classrooms and 50,000 rooms in day-care centers with mobile air purifiers. The Free State had already provided 50 million last year. The money was largely exhausted, said Herrmann.
The air purifiers are intended to reduce the virus load in the room air and thus make a contribution to lowering the risk of infection with the coronavirus. Herrmann called on the municipalities – which are actually responsible for the schools – to siphon off the money. The devices are eligible for funding from the country up to 50 percent. The municipalities have to provide the rest themselves.
In addition, PCR pool tests are to be used as the standard procedure in primary schools in the new school year if the incidence is below 100. Education Minister Michael Piazolo (Free Voters) said that these are more reliable than the rapid tests “especially when there is a low incidence of infection” and easier for the children to handle. In pool tests, the smears of several children are collected and analyzed together in order to save costs. The individual smears are only analyzed if the collective sample is positive. They have had good experiences with it in pilot projects.
Bavarian cabinet advises on the corona situation
Tuesday, July 6th, 11 a.m.: The Bavarian cabinet dealt with the corona situation again this Tuesday. “The developments are encouraging, the situation is still positive and stable,” said Minister of State Florian Herrmann (CSU) in the subsequent press conference. It is going in a good direction. The reproduction number, which describes how many people an infected person infects on average, is 0.9, however, in a range that should be “observed”. The occupancy of the intensive care beds with civil service devices is currently 80, “we have already been to 760 or 780,” said Herrmann. The spread of the Delta variant, which is considered to be very infectious, continued to cause concern. In the ministerial round, the focus was on the subject of schools. Digital Minister Judith Gerlach also reported on plans for digitization.
Study: Corona gives Bavaria’s municipalities more help than losses
Tuesday, July 6th, 10:30 a.m.: Thanks to the gigantic financial aid from the federal government and the Free State, Bavaria’s municipalities had more money available in Corona year 2020 than in 2019, according to a study by the Bertelsmann Foundation. “The Bavarian municipalities received around 1.5 billion euros more in reimbursement for trade tax than they ultimately lost, “said René Geissler, professor of public economics at the Technical University of Wildau (Brandenburg) and co-author of the communal financial report of the Bertelsmann Foundation, which will be published this Tuesday.
Bavaria’s cities and districts received 2.4 billion euros from the aid program in spring 2020, after Hesse this was the second highest amount in Germany. The money was financed by suspending the debt brake. The most important measure was the reimbursement of business tax losses. However, since the recession was milder in the end than initially feared, the municipalities, including reimbursements, ultimately had a higher tax revenue at their disposal than in the previous year.
The Bavarian municipalities also benefited from the fact that in 2020 the federal government increased its share of the municipal Hartz IV costs (cost of accommodation – KdU) in all federal states by 25 percentage points to up to 74 percent of the nationwide KdU expenditure. For Bavaria that meant around 275 million euros last year. These aids mainly reach cities with higher social charges. As a result of its social structure, the city of Nuremberg receives around 27 million euros annually. Without the help of the federal government and the Free State, the municipalities in Bavaria would have been guaranteed to have been in debt for a long time.
But even after the pandemic, the so-called cash loans, so to speak the overdraft facilities of the municipalities, are almost unknown. They are considered a crisis indicator and are generally associated with high social spending and tax rates, with low investments and generally little room for maneuver for local politics. At the end of 2020, cash loans nationwide stood at 31 billion euros. Two thirds of this are in the municipalities of North Rhine-Westphalia.
In contrast, Bavaria’s municipalities were largely shielded from the financial damage caused by the pandemic and were even able to further increase their investments. Investments climbed to a new high of almost 12 billion euros. Per capita, Bavaria’s municipalities have been at the top of the federal states for years and invest almost three times more than the municipalities in Saarland. The very high reserves of 15 billion euros before the crisis would also have proven their worth.
Incidence in Bavaria continues to fall
Tuesday, July 6th, 6.51 a.m.: The seven-day incidence is 5.4 on Tuesday, slightly lower than the day before when it was 5.6. Nine districts and urban districts are still corona-free, in seven others there has been a new corona case in the past seven days. The cities of Aschaffenburg (15.5), Regensburg (13.7) and Fürth (13.2) have the highest incidences in Bavaria. In Munich the value dropped to 10.0.
After criticism: Aiwanger defends not being vaccinated
Monday, July 5th, 6:31 pm: Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger’s negative stance against a personal corona vaccination continues to cause dissatisfaction in the Bavarian coalition. Aiwanger criticized in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), who sees vaccinations as the only way out of the Corona crisis. “There is too no alternative and too absolute for me,” said the FW boss of the Swiss newspaper.
Aiwanger complained about the public criticism of vaccine skeptics: “It is really wrong to put pressure on the unvaccinated and brand them as irresponsible. There is a double-digit percentage of the population who have personally decided against vaccination for whatever reason. ” It is also unwise for medical reasons to exert pressure. “You will only achieve the opposite and reap defiance.” Aiwanger pointed out that pharmaceutical companies and the vaccination commission have revised recommendations and opinions several times over the course of the months.
Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) has criticized the position of his cabinet colleague. The attitude of the economics minister is not good for the vaccination campaign, said Holetschek Allgäuer newspaper. He said that everyone had to decide for themselves whether to get vaccinated. “But I also say that vaccination is an act of solidarity. If you hold certain public offices and are also a role model, so to speak, you should be aware of the wave you trigger.”
33,000 newcomers despite Corona
Monday, July 5th, 2:50 p.m.: The corona pandemic has slowed down the influx to Bavaria, but not stopped it. Last year, 33,238 more people moved to Bavaria from Germany and abroad than left the Free State, as the State Statistical Office in Fürth announced on Monday. For comparison: That roughly corresponds to the number of inhabitants in a large district town such as Deggendorf or Fürstenfeldbruck. The effects of the pandemic can, however, be clearly seen: In the previous year, the balance was 55,548 newcomers.
The majority of the newcomers came from abroad: 30,993, i.e. the majority of them from Europe. The largest group were Romanians with over 7,300. The most popular destination was Swabia, where 8,737 people settled, followed by Upper Bavaria with 6,664 newcomers. Overall, the pandemic slowed immigration, but also slowed down immigration, so that in the end there was still a “migration surplus”. Even within Bavaria, fewer people moved last year than usual.
Seven-day incidence remains stable
Monday, July 5th, 6.58 a.m .: The incidence in Bavaria is stable in the low range. The value on Monday is unchanged from the previous day at 5.6, as reported by the Robert Koch Institute. However, there have been changes at the top of the list. If the district of Lichtenfels was at the top for days in a nationwide comparison, it now only has an incidence of 3.0. The list is now headed by the district of Aschaffenburg with 16.9, followed by the state capital with 11.6 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days. Munich had the lowest value this year with 8.4 on June 25th. Since then, the number has increased slightly but steadily. Ten cities and districts are considered corona-free with a value of 0.0.
Police in Bavaria: Not a single corona infection recognized as an accident at work
Sunday, July 4th, 7:28 p.m .: In Bavaria not a single corona infection has been recognized by police officers as a work accident. As the responsible finance ministry in coordination with the interior ministry as the employer announced in response to a request from SPD member Stefan Schuster, since the start of the pandemic there have been 79 applications for such “work accident recognition “(as of mid-June). The regional associations of the police unions DPolG and GdP had advised members in the case of infections with more serious courses to have a work accident diagnosed – not because of the acute care, which is already regulated; but because of long-term damage that might not be noticeable now. According to media reports, there is movement on the subject in other federal states. According to this, Berlin has recognized a third of the applications from police officers. In Lower Saxony, the state and the union have concluded a model lawsuit agreement.
Söder demands vaccination recommendations for adolescents from Stiko
Sunday, July 4th, 1:57 p.m .: Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) relies on the vaccination of schoolchildren in the fight against the highly contagious Delta variant of the corona virus. “The Stiko should urgently consider when it recommends vaccinating young people,” he wrote on Twitter on Sunday. That would increase protection for everyone and give freedoms back to a generation that had to forego a lot. The Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) has not yet issued a general vaccination recommendation for children and adolescents from the age of twelve. She recommends vaccinations only for 12 to 17 year olds with certain pre-existing conditions. The committee justified its recommendation, among other things, by stating that the risk of severe Covid 19 disease was low for this age group. The delta variant is also spreading more and more in Bavaria. Most of the registered cases are in Munich. According to statistics from the State Office for Health (LGL), 170 Delta cases were found in the state capital by Saturday (July 3). Until June 1st there were 29.
Financial support for freelance artists extended
Sunday, July 4th, 12:32 p.m .: The Corona aid for self-employed artists in the Free State will be extended up to and including December. From Monday on, artists and members of culturally related professions can again submit applications via Bayern Innovativ, for the period from July to December 2021, as the Ministry of Art announced on Sunday. The financial aid of up to 1180 euros per month is intended to replace lost income. It is the third round of applications since the beginning of the Corona crisis.
Art Minister Bernd Sibler (CSU) spoke of a “security package” for artists and organizers, which – in combination with other aid programs and consistent opening steps – would stabilize the art and culture scene in Bavaria.