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Pedestrian zone in Cologne a few days ago
Photo: Marius Becker / DPA
The trip to beautiful Budapest, including a visit to the stadium for the game against FC Sevilla, should make one or two FC Bayern Munich fans think again: Quarantine for every Bavarian returnees who are in the Hungarian Corona risk area in the "Puskas Arena" on Thursday evening "is at the European Supercup, announced Prime Minister Markus Söder.
Even if you have spent less than 48 hours in Budapest.
In Munich there is fear of the virus, most recently the weekly upper limit of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants was exceeded.
The Bavarian state capital is now a Corona hotspot because of the critical incidence figures, as is the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district in the heart of Berlin, where parts of the U30 generation celebrate undaunted parties, or the Lower Saxony district of Cloppenburg.
Very different places.
And beyond the hotspots, the infection curve continues to rise day by day across the country.
The weather in the past week and a half was still beautiful late summer.
Many met outside, on the terrace, in the beer garden, in the park.
How is that supposed to be from Friday, when, according to meteorologists, the gray and cool autumn approaches?
When social life shifts more and more into closed spaces?
After all: At the request of Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Federal Ministry of Labor has just drawn up a "Recommendation on ventilation in accordance with infection control". In addition, the Ministry of Economic Affairs has a funding program worth 500 million euros for better ventilation systems.
But of course it doesn't happen that fast, of course it won't be enough.
And that's why the political debate reopened this Monday: What measures can help?
Will there be severe restrictions on public life again?
What have we learned in the past few months?
There is above all Bavaria's Prime Minister Söder.
The CSU boss has a reputation to defend as an anti-corona hardliner - and at the same time has acute problems in his country.
Therefore, at the end of last week, he worked to ensure that, contrary to the original plan, no spectators were allowed into the stadium for Bayern's Bundesliga opening game in Munich.
However, he could not prevent the irresponsible behavior of the club leaders in the official gallery.
So now his quarantine announcement.
For the city of Munich, Söder brought up a mask requirement in public places.
On Monday, the city actually announced that, from Thursday, a mask requirement would apply in certain squares and streets, including Marienplatz and Viktualienmarkt.
In addition, only groups of a maximum of five people or people from two households are allowed to meet in the public area.
For private celebrations such as birthdays, weddings or funerals, there is a maximum limit of 25 people indoors and 50 people for outdoor meetings.
Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn relies on the expansion of the medical infrastructure.
He wants to set up numerous so-called regional "fever clinics".
The aim is to prepare for test options beyond normal practice, as already existed in many places in the spring.
It is important to ensure that people in the waiting room do not infect each other, says Spahn.
CDU Prime Minister Armin Laschet wants to implement his "Corona brake" in North Rhine-Westphalia, in the course of which in cities and districts where the incidence number is over 35, the local authorities must coordinate countermeasures immediately with the State Health Center and the respective district government.
If the value of 50 cases is also exceeded,
"
additional protective measures must be ordered
",
as stated in the NRW Corona Protection Ordinance.
Always in the hope that this will prevent widespread lockdowns.
Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to discuss the further course with the Prime Minister in the coming week due to the increasing Corona hotspots in Munich and elsewhere.
The hope of keeping the infection process manageable by allowing citizens to behave responsibly without further regulations?
It is probably gone.
Surveys show that the vast majority of Germans see the virus as a threat and support strict rules - but even from this group, not all of them seem to behave accordingly in everyday life.
Distance, mask requirements and other hygiene rules are not only undermined by corona deniers.
You can see this every day all over Germany on the streets, in restaurants and bars.
In Saxony-Anhalt people are still relaxed
The Corona-wise rather relaxed summer, you can get this impression, has increased carelessness when it comes to viruses.
Even if the mortality is currently below the numbers of the first Corona wave in Germany, it could take revenge in the coming months, fears in the Chancellery, the Federal Ministry of Health and some state chancelleries.
Not in all of them, however.
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Prime Minister Haseloff
Photo: Uwe Koch / Eibner-Pressefoto / imago images / Eibner
Saxony-Anhalt's CDU Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff, for example, sees no need for action in the infection process in his state.
"The infections in Saxony-Anhalt are rising slightly, but they are still traceable and currently there is no reason to think about tightening the measures again," Haseloff told SPIEGEL.
"Should the numbers change, we would be able to tighten the measures again at any time."
Even that is believed by the so-called lateral thinkers and their allies in the Bundestag, the AfD, to be exaggerated and scaremongering.
But there is also criticism of new rules from the FDP.
"There are practically no proven infections in the fresh air, which is why stricter mask requirements are of no use," said parliamentary group vice-president Michael Theurer to SPIEGEL.
"This is once again Mr. Söder's symbolic politics."
Theurer, who is also the head of the FDP in Baden-Württemberg, continues: "We expect the numbers to go up due to the season and the cold, but I think it is inappropriate to think about a drastic tightening of the measures."
Greens criticize a lack of strategy
The Greens, on the other hand, criticize the fact that the strategy at the federal level is limited to "individual measures or individual proposals from individual ministers," as party leader Annalena Baerbock puts it.
A comprehensive strategy should have been drawn up as early as the summer, she complains - there is talk of a "pandemic council" that the Greens have been calling for for a long time.
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Green leader Baerbock
Photo: CLEMENS BILAN / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
It must be ensured that "there is also sufficient staff available for Mr. Spahn's fever centers" - this requires more than the mere action of individuals, so Baerbock.
Basically, however, the Greens boss thinks it is right that the focus of politics is now on the increased number of infections: The drastic developments that can be seen in some neighboring countries must be prevented.
EU wants to avoid mistakes from the first wave
You can also see these developments in Brussels: The EU is trying everything to respond to a second corona wave in a less chaotic manner than to the first.
This Tuesday, at a meeting of the European Ministers in Brussels, a paper from the German government, which currently holds the EU Council Presidency, will be on the table.
According to the progress report from Berlin, which is available to SPIEGEL, the corona decisions of the member states are to be based on common data in the future:
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is to present the number of new infections over the past 14 days and the test rate per 100,000 inhabitants - and also how many of the tests have been positive.
The ECDC is also supposed to provide statistics on the situation in hospitals and the number of deaths.
On the basis of this harmonized data, the member states should make decisions about countermeasures; the public should be informed at least 24 hours before the measures are implemented.
However, it is by no means certain that a harmonized database also leads to harmonized decisions.
This is only a first step, it is said from EU circles.
Because both the infection rate and the situation in the health systems are sometimes very different from one member country to another.
"That makes a 'one size fits all' solution difficult," says an EU diplomat.
You don't have to tell anyone in Germany: Even here, the federal system ensures that the federal states attach great importance to their own approaches in the fight against Corona, not least in view of the sometimes very different situation depending on the country.
Within the EU, there is also the fact that health policy and border protection are still the responsibility of the individual member states - the Commission has little to say here.
The German government also admits this in its report.
Nevertheless, fear of new border closings or lockdowns is rampant in Brussels.
There are "great concerns" about the rapidly increasing number of infections in France and Spain, for example, says the CDU politician Peter Liese, health policy spokesman for the EPP group in the European Parliament.
And he also believes: Even in Germany, "without additional measures, a strong spread of the virus in the next few weeks cannot be avoided."
Icon: The mirror