If you want to celebrate Christmas in another federal state, you have to study the corona rules there carefully. The definition of the number of children allowed at celebrations is confused.
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Actually, the federal and state governments had agreed on a uniform relaxation of the corona restrictions for Christmas – now it is clear: One detail, the division of 14-year-olds, is mixed up between the states.
According to the federal-state resolution, small-group celebrations should be possible at Christmas – with four people beyond their own household, “plus children up to the age of 14”.
14-year-olds are not always included
But the 16 countries have anchored this in their Corona regulations in a wide variety of ways. The result: In one half of the countries, 14-year-olds are not included in the number of people allowed, in the other half they are – so in case of doubt, the number of people allowed to celebrate together shrinks.
Specifically: In Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bremen and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, 14-year-olds are not counted. This is either clear and direct from the ordinances or is interpreted accordingly by the state governments. The decisive “limit” there is therefore always the 15th birthday.
In Bavaria, 14-year-olds are counted as adults
For example, formulations in Corona ordinances, according to which children “up to and including 14 years” are not included in the calculation of the number of people allowed at Christmas, are clear.
In Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Berlin, Thuringia, Saxony, Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt, on the other hand, families with 14-year-old children are left behind when in doubt. There it says in the regulations, for example, that only children “up to the age of 14” or “children under 14” are not included in the calculation of the permitted number of people – the 14th birthday is the limit. 14-year-olds are therefore counted like adults there.
The wording “up to 14 years”, as it stands in the federal-state resolution, has been adopted by five states: Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Bremen, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt. To make the confusion complete: While the first four named draw the line with this formulation, according to official information, on their 15th birthday, Saxony-Anhalt draws the line on their 14th birthday. – dpa
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