With the start of the new school year in September, there will be additional corona vaccination offers for schoolchildren. Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) and Culture Minister Michael Piazolo (FW) announced this on Thursday. Accordingly, the vaccination centers were preparing to offer young people from the age of twelve a vaccination offer in schools, “whether in the gym, the cafeteria or in the vaccination bus on the school parking lot”. The corona vaccination will remain voluntary.
With its plans for a “low-threshold vaccination offer” at schools, the state government is reacting on the one hand to increasing corona numbers in the Free State – on the other hand to criticism of its crisis management. The opposition recently scoffed at “uncoordinated messing around” because vaccination programs for younger age groups were missing. And there is also great concern among hoteliers, retailers and event managers that they will soon have to be locked up again in view of the infection situation.
On Thursday, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) showed a seven-day incidence above the threshold value of 50 for twelve cities and districts in Bavaria. In the city of Rosenheim it even rose above the 100 mark for the first time. The Bavaria-wide incidence was 34.1, the national average 44.2. The State Office for Public Health recently estimated the reproduction value at 1.27; this means that one infected person infects more than one other person. The higher the number, the faster the pandemic is gaining momentum.
Stages could soon be 50 percent full again – regardless of the vaccination status and beyond an incidence of 35
At the end of the day, there was actually more relief than tightening in the room. The federal and state governments want to replace the seven-day incidence, which has so far been decisive for openings and closings – the number of new infections in the last seven days per 100,000 inhabitants – with a new system. What this means in concrete terms for Bavaria is still unclear.
After all, it became public on Thursday what could apply to major sporting events in the future. A draft provides for an audience capacity of 50 percent for stadiums – regardless of the vaccination status and also beyond an incidence of 35, provided there are fixed seats and the known minimum distances are maintained. The maximum should be 25,000 viewers. But that’s not fixed. A spokesman for the Ministry of Health indicated that the final version could look very different. According to reports, the new infection control measures regulation is to be published this Friday.
The city of Rosenheim is also counting on this. According to the RKI, the incidence there is currently 116.4 – more than anywhere else in Bavaria and the fifth highest value nationwide. On Wednesday, the city tightened its protective measures against corona, as stipulated by the 13th version of the regulation, which is still valid. Large cultural events that could attract audiences from outside Bavaria have since been prohibited. For pupils of the “summer schools” it is also mandatory to wear a mask on the square. Theoretically, the city would have to tighten its corona measures again over the weekend if the incidence remained above 100 by then. Now the town hall is hoping that the Ministry of Health will get the new regulation ready in time.
In view of so much imponderability, city spokesman Thomas Bugl still seems relaxed on the phone. The incidence in Rosenheim was still 20.46 from one week. The infection process develops “very dynamically”, admits Bugl. But: The increase is not surprising. “The parallelism” is surprising. The Corona numbers sometimes developed “congruently” to summer 2020. At that time, too, they suddenly picked up, this time too, around half of the increase is due to people returning from Southeastern Europe. In the end, the city stood at an incidence of more than 300 last year.
So everything is as usual in Rosenheim? Not quite. According to the city, developments then and now differ on one point: the number of seriously ill people is comparatively low. Accordingly, as of Thursday morning, nine patients were treated for corona in the local clinic, four of them in intensive care; they are supposedly not vaccinated. In general, non-vaccinated people and people without full vaccination protection currently make up the majority of those infected in Rosenheim, at 97.5 percent. Other regions had recently reported similar figures, such as the Traunstein district on Tuesday. Of 109 confirmed corona infections, 105 had no or no complete vaccination protection.
The health department rated only four cases as so-called vaccination breakthroughs. New rules have been in effect for retirement and nursing homes since this week. Visitors and employees who are not vaccinated must again show a negative corona test, regardless of the incidence.
Ruth Waldmann, health policy spokeswoman for the state parliament SPD, called for more support for the facilities on Thursday. These were taken by surprise by the state government’s announcement that it would force booster vaccinations in homes: there were neither preparations nor suitable information sheets. “Booster vaccinations are useful,” said Waldmann. But one must first “agree on clear procedural paths and then make public announcements and not the other way around”. The Ministry of Health contradicted this: The nursing homes were informed in August 2020 and thus “in good time about the start of the booster vaccinations”.