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District Office Rottal-Inn: Lockdown "to protect the population"
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Armin Weigel / picture-alliance / dpa
After the Berchtesgaden district, there is also a lockdown in the Rottal-Inn district in Lower Bavaria.
As of Tuesday, the schools and daycare centers there will be closed and all events canceled, as the district office in Pfarrkirchen announced.
The measures decided are comparable to those in Berchtesgadener Land.
Daycare centers and schools have also been closed there since last week.
Residents are only allowed to leave their homes for compelling reasons.
School closings are a controversial tool in the fight against the coronavirus.
In the past few weeks, Germany's ministers of education had repeatedly spoken out in favor of schools and daycare centers - unlike the nationwide lockdown in spring - having to remain open as long as possible.
"Last resort"
Chancellor Angela Merkel, the prime ministers and leading politicians like the Greens leader Robert Habeck supported this demand.
OECD Education Director Andreas Schleicher also calls school closings a "last resort".
In the Berchtesgaden district, there had been repeated demonstrations in recent days by a few dozen parents and children against the school closings, as reported by local media.
Maria Aicher, co-organizer of a protest, told the portal "rosenheim24": "The uncertainty among parents and children is enormous."
The daily balancing act with constantly new regulations and promises that are not kept cannot go on.
Online petition for classroom teaching
Another mother complained that some children were now home alone for days because their parents had to work.
According to the report, many parents are annoyed that, in their view, the politicians have broken their word: "We were promised that the children would no longer suffer."
Some parents started an online petition to protest the school closings.
You are calling for "permanent face-to-face tuition for our children and adolescents" - more than 3000 people signed up on Monday.
On Sunday, the district administrator of Rottal-Inn, Michael Fahnmüller (CSU), declared that he would do everything in his power to prevent a lockdown.
On Monday the politician said the numbers had continued to rise too much, so there was no alternative.
The lockdown is necessary "to protect the population".
According to the Robert Koch Institute, there were recently 260.1 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants with the corona virus in Rottal-Inn within seven days.
The incidence value is thus higher than that of the Berchtesgaden district with 237 new infections.
The districts have the highest number of infections in Germany.
The restrictions in Rottal-Inn are initially valid for ten days.
This includes a ban on accommodation for tourists, thermal baths, cinemas, theaters, music and dance schools must also remain closed.
People in the district are only allowed to leave their homes for reasons such as work, shopping or visits to the doctor.
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