No general vaccination in schools: Ministry of Education rejects demand
Tuesday, August 17th, 4:43 p.m .: Bavaria is currently not planning any large-scale vaccination campaigns for schoolchildren in schools. “Vaccination is an individual decision and not a prerequisite for going to school,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Culture on Tuesday when asked by the German press agency. “Vaccinations generally take place in the vaccination centers and in general practitioners’ practices,” he emphasized. Among other things, the SPD and the Greens had called for quick and low-threshold vaccination campaigns, which should start during the summer vacation if possible. SPD country chief Ronja Endres had also called for this at schools.
In individual cases, however, vaccination campaigns can also take place in schools if municipalities, schools and vaccination centers so wish and coordinate them with one another. Fully vaccinated pupils are still bound by the hygiene rules in schools – such as wearing masks and keeping their distance. However, you would be released from the obligation to have regular corona tests.
Confusion about booster vaccinations – 84-year-olds were sent off
Tuesday, August 17th, 3 p.m .: In Bavaria there is confusion about the booster vaccinations against Corona announced by Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU), for example for the very elderly and those in need of care. In the Swabian town of Krumbach, the police had to expel an 84-year-old man on Monday because he had previously refused to leave the vaccination center without a vaccination. According to the police, those responsible at the vaccination center had made it clear to him that a third vaccination was not currently planned. The vaccination center has stated that it has not been officially informed about this innovation, said a police spokesman.
On the same day, however, Holetschek publicly stated that booster vaccinations were possible from now on. “The vaccination centers and the resident, treating doctors can already offer booster vaccinations in Bavaria,” the minister said verbatim on Monday. Some vaccination centers in Bavaria adopted the statement from the ministry and offered refreshments on Monday – including the vaccination centers in the districts of Kelheim and Pfaffenhofen. The district of Kulmbach announced that third vaccinations would be possible from next Monday. The Federal Association of Private Providers of Social Services (bpa), on the other hand, assumed on Monday that, on the basis of a “Bavaria plan” developed by the state government, third-party vaccinations should be made possible from September onwards.
Seven-day incidence in Bavaria rises to 28.0
Tuesday, August 17th, 7:00 a.m .: The seven-day incidence in Free State continues to rise. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported an incidence of 28.0 on Tuesday (Monday: 27.2). The national average is 37.4 (Monday: 36.2). The district of Dingolfing-Landau continues to record the highest incidence in Bavaria, but the value there has dropped to 83.8 (Monday: 87.9) and is ninth nationwide. According to the RKI, the incidence in the state capital of Munich rose slightly on Tuesday to 32.7 (Monday: 32.6).
Bavarian State Government welcomes Stiko recommendation
Monday, August 16, 3 p.m .: The Bavarian state government has welcomed the plans for a new recommendation by the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko) to vaccinate adolescents from the age of twelve. “Finally!”, Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) wrote on Twitter on Monday. “The Stiko recommends the vaccination for students from 12. This is important for starting school.”
Söder criticized, however, that the decision had not been made earlier. “Unfortunately we lost a lot of time,” he emphasized. “The vaccination should now be offered all the faster.”
Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) called on parents and young people: “Get yourself and your children vaccinated now”. There is enough vaccine available. “The more children and young people are vaccinated, the safer we can start the coming school year,” he said. On Monday, the Stiko spoke out in favor of recommending a corona vaccination for all children and adolescents from the age of twelve onwards. The evaluation of new scientific data has shown that the benefits of a vaccination far outweigh the risks.
Bavaria starts with booster vaccinations
Monday, August 16, 7:05 a.m .: In Bavaria, old people and those in need of care can receive booster vaccinations against the corona virus from now on. “The vaccination centers and the resident, treating doctors in Bavaria can already offer booster vaccinations,” said Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) on Monday in Munich. This is especially true for very old people over 80 years of age, residents of nursing homes, people with immunodeficiency disorders or immunosuppression and those in need of care who live at home.
The prerequisite for the booster is that the second vaccination was six months ago. According to the decision of the Conference of Health Ministers, everyone who has been fully vaccinated with a vector vaccine from Astrazeneca or Johnson & Johnson is also scheduled for a booster. In practice, however, this group of people will only have their turn from the beginning of September because of the six-month interval that applies here as well. Holetschek recommended that the vaccination centers and resident doctors should initially concentrate on the people in the care facilities. “Because that’s where the people who were vaccinated first live,” said the minister. Then, so far unvaccinated employees of the facilities could be vaccinated unbureaucratically. Holetschek emphasized the importance of continuing the first and second vaccinations: “The booster vaccinations will not be at the expense of the first and second vaccinations. We have enough vaccine. First vaccinations continue to have the highest priority.”
Incidence in Bavaria rises to 27.2
Monday, August 16, 7:00 a.m .: The seven-day incidence in Free State continues to rise. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported an incidence of 27.2 on Monday (Sunday: 26.0). The national average is 36.2 (Sunday: 35.0). The district of Dingolfing-Landau has the highest incidence in Bavaria with 87.9 (Sunday: 86.9) and is in seventh place nationwide. According to the RKI, the incidence in the state capital of Munich rises to 32.6 (Sunday: 30.1).
Exam backlog at driving schools until 2022
Sunday, August 15th, 11.02 a.m .: The exam backlog in Bavaria’s driving schools caused by the corona pandemic is expected to continue into the coming year. According to the Tüv Süd, it could take another six to eight months until it was processed. “During the two lockdowns last year and this year, learner drivers were not allowed to be trained and could therefore not be tested,” said a spokesman for the test center.
Many learner drivers currently have to wait much longer for the practical test. It is currently up to four weeks, sometimes up to six weeks. Before the pandemic, the average waiting time was one to three weeks, according to Tüv. According to the chairman of the Bavarian Driving Instructors’ Association, Jürgen Kopp, there are two possible reasons: “Some say the extension of the test time is to blame. Others say Corona is to blame. Probably, as so often in life, the truth lies somewhere the middle.” Since the introduction of the optimized practical driving test at the beginning of the year, driving tests now take 55 minutes instead of 45. That is why an examiner can only do nine exams a day instead of eleven.
In the past year, the number of driving tests passed was nationwide and in Bavaria decreased. The Federal Motor Transport Authority in Bavaria counted around 249,900 practical exams. That was a decrease of almost 13 percent compared to 2019. Nationwide, the decrease compared to 2019 was around 11 percent according to the Federal Motor Transport Authority.
Incidence in Bavaria rises to 26.0
Sunday, August 15, 7:53 a.m .: The seven-day incidence in Free State has risen above the 25 mark again. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported an incidence of 26.0 on Sunday. Bavaria is still below the national average of 35.0. The Dingolfing-Landau district has the highest incidence in the Free State of 86.9 (seventh nationwide). For the state capital Munich, the RKI reports an incidence of 30.1.
Compulsory testing for unvaccinated employees and visitors to homes
Saturday, August 14th, 6.13pm: Bavaria’s Minister of Health and Care, Klaus Holetschek (CSU), has again drawn attention to the obligation to test unvaccinated visitors and employees of old people’s and nursing homes from Monday. “When visitors and employees come back from vacation, some have that Coronavirus in the luggage. We are therefore already reacting with foresight today: Anyone who cannot or does not want to be vaccinated must be tested from August 16, “said Holetschek on Saturday in Munich.” In view of the increasing incidence, we must protect the particularly endangered groups by all means. “The test requirement applies regardless of the seven-day incidence of the respective location.
Employees who have not been vaccinated or who have not recovered in old people’s homes as well as care and handicapped facilities must therefore be tested for an infection with the coronavirus on at least two different days per week on which they are assigned to work from Monday. The protection and hygiene concept of hospitals as well as of preventive and rehabilitation facilities must contain a test concept that provides for test offers for the employees on at least two different days per week. Visitors to residents of old people’s, care and handicapped facilities must also have themselves tested regardless of the incidence if they are not fully vaccinated or have not recovered.
The incidence value continues to rise slightly
Saturday, August 14th, 10:32 am: The incidence value in Bavaria rose again slightly on Saturday. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported a value of 24.1 for the Free State. On Friday it was still at 22.7.
Increasing number of vaccination breakthroughs
Friday, August 13, 5:17 p.m .: The Bavarian State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL) has recorded an increase in vaccination breakthroughs. Such is the case when people who have been completely vaccinated against Corona become infected with the Sars-CoV-2 pathogen and, according to the definition of the RKI, fall ill “with clinical symptoms”. As of August 12, the LGL in Bavaria was aware of 1703 such cases – 118 more than two days earlier. There are also 1782 cases in which no typical symptoms occurred. Although it can be assumed that the protection against serious disease progression is higher for fully vaccinated people, 68 people in Bavaria have so far died as a result of a breakthrough in vaccination from or with corona.