Corona incidences in Bavaria are increasing rapidly: are folk festivals really “spreader events”?

Created: 07/27/2022, 12:03 p.m

By: Tanja Kipke

The corona pandemic is not over yet, and at the same time everyday life is returning - with it the folk festivals.

A challenge for municipalities and clinics.

Munich/Straubing –

Two years without folk festivals, two years without roller coasters, shooting galleries and beer tent fun.

In the third Corona year, things are now more relaxed: you can celebrate and sway again.

The corona incidences are increasing in the Free State.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the incidence in Bavaria is currently 873, making it the second highest nationwide incidence.

The district of Wunsiedel led the hotspot list with an incidence of 3,000.

Is there a connection between folk festivals and the current spread of the virus?

Municipalities and clinics are looking to the coming weeks with some concern.

In Munich and Straubing, for example, the construction of the Oktoberfest and Gäuboden folk festival is in full swing.

Corona incidence increased tenfold after Bergkirchweih - fear of "spreader events"

"The social mood is for the organization of folk festivals," says Achim Sing, spokesman for the Bavarian City Association of the dpa.

That is the expectation of the citizens, but also of the landlords and the showmen, who have not been able to do business for a long time.

"That has to be respected." But of course there is concern that folk festivals would become spreader events. 

Dancing on beer benches: There is a lot of singing and laughing in the beer tent at the Bavarian folk festival.

An incidence driver?

© dpa/Angelika Warmuth/Sebastian Gollnow (merkur.de collage)

In the Middle Franconian city and district of Erlangen-Höchstadt, the incidence had risen sharply over the course of and a good week after the Bergkirchweih in June.

This is evident from figures from the RKI.

Nine days after the end of the festival, the value in the city had increased more than tenfold, and in the district it had tripled.

Whether there is a connection cannot be said with certainty.

But: "The suspicion is obvious," says Sing. In Wunsiedel in the Fichtelgebirge, the incidence has recently increased sharply - there was also speculation about folk festivals as the cause.

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Major events really infection drivers?

There is an "increased risk".

The Ministry of Health, with reference to the State Office for Health (LGL), states that “a diffuse pandemic event can still be assumed”.

Occasionally, regional and temporally limited clusters are observed.

Even if experience shows that major events do not necessarily result in an increased incidence of infection, there is always an increased risk of transmission of contagious infectious diseases with every large gathering of people, especially in closed rooms.

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Politicians appeal to the personal responsibility of the citizens.

The municipalities have no legal recourse to restrictions, says Sing from the city council.

In view of the high number of corona infections, the ministry is also calling on citizens to take voluntary precautionary measures and take personal responsibility, especially in regions where the number of infections is currently high.

"The proven hygiene rules are and will remain important: keep your distance, observe hygiene, ventilate regularly, wear a mask where many people come together in a confined space or indoors, use the Corona warning app - these are all things that everyone can do without much effort can do.

Everyone should take their own responsibility for themselves and their fellow human beings seriously," said a spokesman.

Corona in Bavaria: Bamberg worries about incidence after Sandkerwa

In Munich, Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) gave the green light for the Wiesn 2022 at the end of April - not without consulting the Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) several times beforehand.

From September 17th to October 3rd, as always, the celebrations will be held in tents with thousands of guests.

The district of Bamberg wants to arm itself for fear of overloaded clinics: Within the last four weeks, the corona failures among nursing staff have doubled to more than ten percent and among doctors to five percent, according to a statement.

District Administrator Johann Kalb (CSU) and Bamberg's Mayor Andreas Starke (SPD) call for "Franconia-wide coordination of patient flows".

With a view to the Erlangen Bergkirchweih, local politicians Kalb and Starke urge people to be prepared for a similar development after the Bamberger Sandkerwa.

And: "In a difficult global political situation, we have to make people more aware of the pandemic again."

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