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Note on 2G rule in a store: the rules must also be controlled
Photo: Robert Michael / dpa
Christian Krömer woke up to memories of March 16, 2020 this week.
His shops and almost all other shops nationwide had to close completely for the first time because of the pandemic.
The latest switch between federal and state representatives did not turn out that bad - but 2G should apply throughout Germany in the catering and retail sectors in the future: Access only for vaccinated and convalescent people, exceptions are only provided for shops with daily needs.
Discos have to close completely if the incidence is over 350.
With the agreement on 2G, the problems with the pandemic will become greater again for Krömer.
Krömer is 38 years old and the head of a toy chain in Bavaria: 24 branches, around nine million euros in sales and around 120 employees.
The new rule hits him in the important Christmas business of all times.
"We expect less frequency in the shops because of the insecurity of the people - and because a certain part is no longer allowed to come," says Krömer.
"However, what could bother us most about Christmas business was the additional effort of checking these rules."
Controls, but how?
Because despite agreement on the 2G rule, important questions remain unanswered: How must the evidence be checked?
"If that happens at the cash register on a random basis, the child has already fallen into the well," says Krömer.
What if queues form in front of the entrances?
»Monday is Nicholas, this is one of the busiest days of the year for us.
If people then have to wait in front of the shops, we cannot always precisely check whether the distances are being kept. "
The controls and the exclusion of unvaccinated people hit businesses and restaurants at a delicate phase.
Many of them still have past shutdowns in their bones, and in the weeks leading up to Christmas, many retailers and innkeepers make most of their sales, with gifts or Christmas parties.
The Institut der Deutschen Wirtschaft (IW) expects the 2G regulation in stationary retail alone with losses of around 5.3 billion euros in December.
Industry representatives had therefore tried everything to avert the widespread introduction of 2G right up to the end.
The German Trade Association (HDE) commissioned the renowned law firm Noerr to draw up an expert report, according to which the restrictions that have now been adopted are unconstitutional.
In a letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and her designated successor Olaf Scholz (SPD), association president Josef Sanktjohanser wrote that 2G violates the professional freedom of retailers and violates equality rights.
But the resistance didn't help.
Toy retailer Krömer now fears a situation like in the previous shutdowns: that supermarkets and drugstores that are exempt from 2G will suddenly be running fashion campaigns again, selling flowers on a large scale - or even selling toys. That annoys the boss of the family business. But he also says: "With all the trouble about 2G, I would prefer that to be closed a hundred times." After all, the shelves and warehouses are full to the top: "We had to stock up on goods early because of the corona-related delivery bottlenecks."
The main thing is open.
With this, Krömer hopes, he will also be able to do without the bridging aids, which have now also been extended.
In the case of particularly affected companies, they should now help to absorb fixed costs by the end of March 2022.
"I don't want any help, I want to earn my own living," says Krömer.
For other, more severely affected dealers, HDE managing director Stefan Genth calls for easier access to bridging aids.
So far, the stores have to show at least a 30 percent decline in sales compared to 2019 in order to receive help.
Genth complains that the trade should not have to answer for the failures of the state vaccination campaign.
Uncertainty for the catering industry
In the catering industry, the latest decisions are also being viewed with concern in many places.
For the time being, a nationwide 2G-plus rule is off the table, at least in restaurants, so vaccinated and convalescent people do not have to show a current negative test.
However, according to the paper, it should be possible to introduce an additional test if this becomes necessary with a high number of cases.
In addition, countries and regions should again be able to close restaurants for a limited period and restrict hotel stays.
At least that is the request of the country chiefs to the legislature, who is supposed to sharpen the new Infection Protection Act.
Which of these will be implemented in the next few days?
Open minded.
The lap has squeezed out of a unified position.
"2G plus would be a quasi-lockdown for many companies," warns Ingrid Hartges, General Manager at the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga), in view of these options.
"Spontaneous visits to cafés, for example when you meet on the street, would be next to no longer possible because there are insufficient test capacities," she told SPIEGEL.
She thinks it is wrong to focus more on the vaccinated again.
"Instead, 2G must now be implemented consistently."
In general, the industry has suffered severely since the beginning of the pandemic - and the situation is worsening "day by day".
If the federal government does not agree to continue to top up the short-time work allowance, which can be obtained more easily until the end of March, numerous people again threatened to leave the industry entirely.
Many companies are already doing badly - especially in the east and south of the republic, where the corona numbers are particularly high.
According to Dehoga, sales of hotels and restaurants fell by more than 30 percent nationwide in November compared to pre-Corona-November 2019, according to a survey.
There are therefore large regional differences in the development of sales: The losses of restaurateurs and hoteliers are particularly severe in Bavaria and Saxony, where businesses are already in a regional lockdown - and business has declined by more than half.
The losses have so far been less severe in Schleswig-Holstein, for example.
Here the decline is just around 15 percent.
In the retail sector, sales also fell unexpectedly before the new rules.
"If Christmas markets are no longer up and there are more people in the home office, that affects us too, then there is less going on here too," says toy retailer Krömer.
Politicians are still trying to avert the big bang by extending the bridging aid.
In addition to the reimbursement of fixed costs, companies that are "particularly badly affected by closures" are to receive an additional equity grant, as stated in a communication from the Ministry of Finance and Economics.
Advent and Christmas markets in particular should benefit from this.