The federal and state governments have decided to extend the lockdown.
The additional decision to limit the range of motion caused heated discussions.
A
new rule is planned
for
hotspots
with particularly high
coronavirus numbers
By restricting the range of
motion
to
15 kilometers
, the federal government is responding to the mass influx of day tourists over the past few days.
The
virologist Martin Stürmer
from the
University of Frankfurt
warns of the possible consequences.
The federal and state governments have decided: The
lockdown
will be extended until January
31
.
At the press conference on Tuesday evening, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced not only a continuation, but also additional “tougher” restrictions.
This is the only way to prevent
overloading the health system
.
A hotly debated part of the draft resolution is a restriction of the range of motion.
The radius for regions with a
seven-day incidence of over 200 cases per 100,000 inhabitants is
expected to be limited to
15 kilometers
.
The only exceptions are workplace or exceptions such as visits to the doctor.
"I'm not sure if this is the right way," said
Martin Stürmer
in an interview with the news site
focus.de
about the planned decision.
Stürmer is a
virologist
and teaches at the
University of Frankfurt
.
The idea has a "certain double-edgedness." He agrees with the federal and state governments and emphasizes that it is very important to reduce contacts in order to contain the coronavirus.
The
limitation of the range of motion
is finally a measure to prevent "pendulum".
The virologist is addressing the real mass rush to popular winter sports locations in recent days.
The new Corona decision: restriction of the range of motion - criticism justified?
Nevertheless, he doubts how it will be implemented.
“It can
do the opposite,
” he explains.
“If you
limit
freedom of movement
in metropolitan areas, for example
, more people will gather again.
Because maybe there is only one large park, a
wooded area
or a
playground
- and then of course everyone is there. ”The measure would thus become an own goal.
The expert is “torn back and forth”.
The
decision was also heavily criticized
on
, even before it was officially announced.
FDP boss
Christian Lindner
writes here: “In
metropolitan areas
, almost anything remains possible, nothing works in the countryside.
What is that supposed to help?"
A fixed #movement radius has completely different consequences in Berlin-Mitte than, for example, in rural areas.
Almost anything remains possible in metropolitan areas, nothing works in rural areas.
What is that supposed to help?
CL
- Christian Lindner (@c_lindner) January 5, 2021
During the press conference,
however,
Angela Merkel
emphasized
that the region meant the whole city.
With Berlin you should continue to move within the city, only 15 kilometers outside is the end.
Especially day tourism should be prevented.
