Demonstrations in several Bavarian cities
Monday, January 10, 9:22 p.m.: Once again, people took to the streets in several places in Bavaria to protest against the Corona measures. In many places there were also counter-demonstrations – more and more people are now publicly in favor of vaccination, for example. “Corona makes you sick. Thinking outside the box makes you stupid,” read banners in Bayreuth. According to the police, the partly registered and partly non-registered gatherings remained peaceful until the evening.
In Regensburg up to 1000 people came to an unregistered meeting. Like a spontaneous counter rally by a few people, this remained peaceful. In the Lower Bavarian town of Vilshofen, around 800 people met for a registered demonstration, as the police announced. At a simultaneous event, around two dozen people remembered the victims of the corona pandemic. In Unterhaching near Munich, around 300 people took to the streets to get vaccinations. Students had called for two rallies as a sign of solidarity with nurses in hospitals and old people’s homes. 300 people also demonstrated in the Munich suburb against the corona policy. In Munich itself it remained calm. The state capital had again banned all demos that were not properly registered for Monday and Wednesday by general decree.
Holetschek on exception for young people: “I can imagine that this regulation will be extended”
Monday, January 10th, 3:43 p.m .: For underage students who are regularly tested for the coronavirus in school, an exception to the 2-G rule will probably also apply in the future. “I can imagine that this regulation will be extended,” said Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) on Monday Süddeutsche Zeitung. The permission that young people between 14 and 17 years of age may go to hotels and restaurants or to sports training even if they have neither been vaccinated against Covid-19 nor recovered from corona disease was initially limited to January 12 and considered by the state government to let this exception expire afterwards. The opposition in the state parliament and representatives of youth work had, in some cases, heavily criticized such considerations.
Health Minister Holetschek pointed out that the final decision lies with the Council of Ministers, which will meet this Tuesday under the leadership of Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU). However, since the free voters had already spoken out in favor of extending the exception rule, a uniform decision against a “leisure lockdown” for unvaccinated young people can be expected within the black-orange coalition. “We do not want to restrict the lives of young people too much and continue to enable them to participate, provided that the infection process allows it,” Holetschek said last week – and thus promised an extension of the exception rule.
Vaccinated daycare children do not need any tests
Monday, January 10th, 1.55 p.m .: There are exceptions to the new rule that daycare children in Bavaria have to present a negative corona test three times a week since this Monday. The new test verification requirement does not apply to children who have recovered or who have already been vaccinated, as the Ministry of Social Affairs specified on Monday, according to the radio station Antenne Bayern. All other children need to be tested.
This is usually done at home by the parents, who have to prove this to the institution using a form or test cassette. Alternatively, PCR pool tests are also allowed in the daycare centers.
The Ministry of Social Affairs did not write anything about recovered or vaccinated children in its parents’ letter on the new regulation and therefore caused confusion, according to the radio station. In schools, the compulsory test also applies to vaccinated and recovered pupils. In the daycare centers, however, the Ministry of Social Affairs made it clear, according to Antenne Bayern. However, they too continued to receive authorization certificates for free tests.
Sharp increase in falsified corona vaccination certificates in Bavaria
Monday, January 10, 1:53 p.m .: In Bavaria more and more vaccination certificates are being falsified. The display of forged stickers, certificates, labels, stamps and proof of recovery has risen sharply, especially since the penal provisions in the Criminal Code (StGB) and Infection Protection Act (IfSG) were updated on November 24, 2021, said the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior at the request of the Evangelical Press Service (epd) . While there were still 338 registered cases in October, the number rose to 1928 in December. In total, the Bavarian police have so far recorded almost 4,000 reports in the area of document offenses in connection with the Corona vaccination issue.
Around two thirds of counterfeits are detected in pharmacies. But around twelve percent of the known forgeries could also be found in the course of police control and investigation activities, said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of the Interior. How many penalties and judgments there have been so far for falsified vaccination certificates in Bavaria, the Bavarian Ministry of Justice was unable to answer an epd request. Current statistics on this are not available, according to a spokesman, and the number is nowhere recorded separately.
With the introduction of 2 G plus: Munich’s innkeepers threaten to close
Monday, January 10, 11.43 a.m .: “Stunned” and “dismayed” say Munich city center hosts about the future tightened 2-G-plus regulation for gastronomy. This was “a catastrophe” for the already badly shaken industry and was more or less like a lockdown, said Gregor Lemke, the chairman of the Munich city center innkeepers’ association. Again, the hosts are the ones to suffer. A quick survey of the 34 members of the association showed that more than half would (have to) lock up with the introduction of 2 G plus – initially limited for a certain period of time.
An opening in January and February, the weakest in terms of sales, “in no way” pays off. It has been proven that restaurants are not the drivers of the infection. “The fact that we have to accept renewed tightening is a shock and for many companies it is unquestionably dying in installments,” said Lemke.
Trautner defends new test rules for the younger generation
Monday, January 10th, 10:05 am: Bavaria’s Minister of Social Affairs Carolina Trautner (CSU) has once again defended the start of the corona tests for crèche and kindergarten children. “I believe that it will really work because the parents are also very interested in ensuring that the safety in the daycare centers is very high,” she told Bayerischer Rundfunk on Monday. Cheating by the parents cannot be ruled out. “But I’m really counting on the parents’ greatest interest in ensuring that their children are looked after in a safe environment.”
Since January 10th, there is no compulsory test in the rooms of the daycare centers in Bavaria, but there is a test verification requirement for the guardians. According to Trautner, testing in day-care centers would be too much for the educational staff. “The children are still very young, they cannot do this reliably on themselves on their own. In this respect, it would not be affordable for the employees.” There are around 10,200 daycare centers across Bavaria. Parents now have to give a credible assurance three times a week that they have tested all children from the age of one with negative results at home themselves.
The tests paid for by the Free State with a certificate of eligibility must generally take place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. If a child is absent on one of these days, a test must be taken on the day they are taken care of again. The facilities can decide for themselves whether the parents have to bring the test cassette with the negative result as proof of the test or a new form signed each time with the current date.
Incidence in Bavaria continues to rise
Monday, January 10, 6.43 a.m .: The incidence in Bavaria continues to rise: According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), it was 321.8 on Monday, and 295.1 on Sunday. The health authorities in Bavaria reported 5876 new cases to the RKI in the past 24 hours. Ten people died of or with the coronavirus in the same period.
The city of Würzburg has the highest recorded incidence value in Bavaria with 496.2 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days. This is followed by the districts of Lindau with 493.4 and Ostallgäu with 492.6. The district of Berchtesgadener Land reports the lowest value with 111.9. According to the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, 511 Covid patients were in intensive care units in Bavaria on Monday morning. 528 intensive care beds are free throughout Bavaria.
Again corona protests and counter demonstrations in Schweinfurt
Sunday, January 9th, 7.43pm: In protest against the Corona measures, numerous people took to the streets in Schweinfurt, Lower Franconia, on Sunday evening. According to a police spokesman, around 600 people were in different groups at the unregistered gathering in the city. A counter demonstration that took place and was registered at the same time with around 200 people at Schillerplatz has so far been peaceful. Previously, a counter demo, which was also registered, took place on the market square with around 100 people.
The city had tightened the rules because of several incidents in previous protests. Unannounced gatherings are only allowed to be stationary in Schweinfurt, i.e. no walks in the strict sense of the word. Around 200 people did not adhere to it on Sunday. You should now expect reports of an administrative offense. On Boxing Day there was an unannounced meeting in Schweinfurt, which resulted in aggression and violence.
Holetschek demands a quick decision on compulsory vaccination
Sunday, January 9th, 1:45 p.m .: Bavaria’s Minister of Health Klaus Holetschek (CSU) calls for a quick decision on compulsory corona vaccination. “We must finally lead this discussion in a concrete and, above all, goal-oriented manner and must not lose any more time,” said the politician Augsburger Allgemeine. In general, he complained about the lack of pace in the fight against the pandemic.
“We have to make important decisions more quickly and then implement them. We will not end the pandemic any faster through procrastination and hesitation,” Holetschek told the newspaper. He is convinced that compulsory vaccination in Germany is the fastest way out of the pandemic. “But we would do well to remain open to discussions about the form in which it would make the most sense.” A time limit is possible, for example to two years. It is also conceivable to introduce compulsory vaccinations only for the particularly endangered age groups.
Bavaria’s FDP leader Martin Hagen expressed understanding for the hesitation of the traffic light coalition. “The vaccination requirement would be an encroachment on the right to one’s own body, which would have to be very well founded,” he told the newspaper. He could imagine that an age-dependent solution would have a majority in the Bundestag.