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Kita in Dresden: "Please stay healthy"
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Because of the many Corona cases in Saxony, Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer is planning a tough lockdown from Monday - schools, daycare centers and after-school care centers are to close by January 10th.
The German Daycare Association has now strongly criticized the CDU politician for this.
"With the planned closings of daycare centers in Saxony, children will again become losers of the pandemic, although it has been proven that they are not the drivers of infection," said Federal Chairwoman Waltraud Weegmann.
In fact, Federal Family Minister Franziska Giffey recently confirmed that children up to the age of five do not pose a greater risk of infection for others.
The SPD politician said in mid-October: "Daycare centers are not sources of infection, children are not infection drivers."
According to Weegmann, the consequences of a closure would be severe for the children.
"We know from the first lockdown that the negative consequences of daycare closings for children were immense," she said.
"Daycare centers may not be closed even in the event of a hard lockdown, as is currently the case in Saxony."
"Mockery of the Families"
In its most recent ad hoc statement on containing the pandemic, the Leopoldina did not make any detailed recommendations on how to deal with daycare children.
With regard to schoolchildren, it says that "for the children who cannot learn in the home learning environment, alternative locations for the distance phases must be offered".
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"Closing the day-care centers nationwide, however, shows action rather than prudent action," Weegmann criticized the approach in Saxony.
"Children need their freedom and permanent access to education." The closings would restrict them more than almost any other group of the population, since, unlike adults, they have no way of maintaining digital contacts.
"That's why children need direct contact with children."
There is also another point: "If parents are to continue to work, daycare must take place." To call the whole thing an extended vacation is "a mockery of the families".
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