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RKI President Wieler: "People are mainly infected in their private sphere"

2020-09-27T10:21:08.728Z


Private celebrations currently contribute a lot to the spread of the corona virus in Germany, confirms the head of the Robert Koch Institute. There are still no nationwide upper limits for private parties.


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RKI President Lothar Wieler (archive photo)

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ANNEGRET HILSE / REUTERS

The President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, has confirmed the impression that many of the current corona infections in Germany can be traced back to private meetings.

"At the moment, people are mainly infected in their private lives, at parties, wedding celebrations, funerals, and also in church services," he told "Welt am Sonntag".

The private sector plays "the major role".

In contrast, the risk of infection in companies has not been so high, said Wieler.

There have been very spectacular outbreaks, but not very many.

"Most businesses seem to be managing the pandemic well."

So far, there have also been very few infections in shops, said the RKI boss.

There are now some outbreaks in schools.

This has to be analyzed well.

At the end of August, the federal and state governments had already discussed whether there should be a uniform upper limit for the number of visitors to private parties - 25 for celebrations in private rooms, 50 for celebrations in restaurants, community halls or the like.

Previously, the Marburger Bund doctors' union, among others, had called for this uniform upper limit.

In a survey commissioned by SPIEGEL, a majority supported this plan.

The politicians could not agree on this point.

Therefore, there are currently very different upper limits depending on the federal state.

In Baden-Württemberg, for example, celebrations with up to 500 participants are permitted, with a written hygiene concept required for 100 or more celebrants.

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, up to 50 people are allowed to celebrate together on family occasions, and 75 for "important family" occasions such as weddings.

The last time there was a coronavirus outbreak in the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Hamm because hygiene and distance rules were apparently disregarded at a wedding.

"Because a handful of celebrants put aside all decency, distance and their masks, 180,000 people are now suffering from it," said Mayor Thomas Hunsteger-Petermann (CDU) in an interview with SPIEGEL.

"They acted as if Corona didn't exist. That shouldn't be."

So that health authorities can keep track of contacts

The health policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, Sabine Dittmar, called for a nationwide upper limit of 50 participants on the radio station NDR Info.

"This is a number that health officials can still keep track of contacts and that is the key to keeping the spread of infection under control," she said.

Even the president of the district assembly, Reinhard Sager, had demanded a uniform upper limit for private celebrations of fewer than 50 participants.

The current patchwork quilt irritates people, said Sager of the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" on Saturday.

At the next federal-state consultations on how to proceed in the corona pandemic on Tuesday, a corresponding decision must be made.

Sager demanded that compliance "must be monitored and the violation also sanctioned, otherwise it will not do anything".

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wbr / AFP

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2020-09-27

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