Quarantine for disco visitors - epidemic emergency?

Created: 12/30/2021Updated: 12/30/2021, 6:25 PM

Heiner Garg (FDP), Minister of Health of Schleswig-Holstein, sits in the state parliament.

© Axel Heimken / dpa

Celebrating in discos despite the corona pandemic?

In Schleswig-Holstein this is allowed under certain conditions.

But the risk celebrates, as numerous cases in the country show.

Thousands of visitors have to be quarantined.

Health Minister Garg wants to act.

Henstedt-Ulzburg / Kampen / Trittau - After Christmas parties in Schleswig-Holstein discos with numerous corona infections, several thousand visitors have to be quarantined.

Affected are discos in the districts of Segeberg, Stormarn, Rendsburg-Eckernförde and in the city of Kiel as well as a club on Sylt and an event in Dithmarschen.

Health Minister Heiner Garg wants to propose to the Jamaica coalition to determine the epidemic situation in Schleswig-Holstein in the first half of January, if the federal government does not do this in the short term.

This means that protective measures can be tightened.

"With the Omikron variant, the fifth wave arrives earlier in Schleswig-Holstein than in other countries," said the FDP politician on Thursday.

In the Stormarn district, as of Thursday, at least nine guests were infected with the Omikron variant in a discotheque, as a spokeswoman for the district said.

On December 24th and 25th, more than 1000 people were in the "Fun-Parc" in Trittau.

All visitors would immediately have to go into a 14-day quarantine.

This applies regardless of the vaccination status.

"We are currently in contact with all sick people and ask them to inform their direct contact persons," said the head of the district health office, Christiane Clobes.

"In addition, we are in conversation with the manager of the" Fun-Parc "in order to be able to provide all visitors with direct information."

In the case of around 820 guests from the “Joy” disco in Henstedt-Ulzburg (Segeberg district), the neighboring Pinneberg district also pointed out the quarantine order for all visitors from December 24th and 25th on Thursday.

Initially, one guest who was in the discotheque on both evenings was found to be infected with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The Segeberg district announced on Thursday that there are now 28 confirmed positive PCR test results.

In three cases, according to the test, it is the Omikron variant.

It is assumed that all 28 are infected with the Omicron variant, but genome sequencing will only provide certainty about this.

The Segeberg district had previously asked all guests to quarantine for 14 days.

So far, around 200 "Joy" visitors have reported to the infection control.

Of them, 50 had symptoms such as cough, runny nose, sore throat, body aches or fatigue.

The city of Kiel asked all visitors to the “Max” night theater from the night of December 25 between 11:30 p.m. and 3:30 a.m. to immediately go to quarantine.

At least one guest was infected with the Omikron variant.

A spokeswoman for the city said it was not known how many visitors to the discotheque it was.

According to a report in the “Schleswig-Holsteinische Landeszeitung” citing the health department of the Rendsburg-Eckernförde district, there were also several corona cases in the “Cheyenne” discotheque in Rendsburg in connection with a Christmas party.

"We currently have 20 people who have become infected in connection with the two events," the newspaper quoted the infectious agent Stephan Ott as saying.

The number of guests affected, who now have to be quarantined, was initially not known.

In a club in Kampen on Sylt, 12 infections were detected by Wednesday after an event at Christmas with up to 120 participants.

Isolation was ordered for those affected.

Whether it is the Omikron variant is still being investigated, said a spokeswoman for the Nordfriesland district.

Since guests are not required to provide contact details, it is difficult to find them all.

According to the district, there were several infections in Dithmarschen at a dance event in Meldorf on December 18.

According to a report by the NDR, around 900 people celebrated.

The broadcaster quoted the organizer as saying that the admission and hygiene concept was fully documented.

A district spokeswoman told the Schleswig-Holstein newspaper publisher SHZ that the organizers had now admitted mistakes.

The seven-day incidence of corona cases rose significantly in Schleswig-Holstein on Wednesday.

The number of new infections recorded per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days was 181.8 (as of 6:36 p.m.) - after 158.1 on Tuesday.

The number of registered new infections with the corona virus also rose to 1,451 cases.

The previous day there were 1131 newly recorded cases.

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The latest events in the country, especially in connection with celebrations, show, according to the Ministry of Health, that increased dynamics can be assumed and that the virus will spread much more quickly.

This can be counteracted with additional measures.

Garg called on people to get vaccinated and to stay in a small circle on New Year's Eve.

dpa