From Wednesday, no one is allowed to leave the apartment in Offenbach from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. without a valid reason. The rule is initially limited to April 18. In the Groß-Gerau district, the curfew will apply from midnight on Thursday.
The hope of a drop in the seven-day incidence in Offenbach has fizzled out. On Monday it was 253.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and thus above the critical 200 mark for the third day in a row. The city will therefore impose a nightly curfew between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. It will apply for the first time from Wednesday midnight – after the official announcement in the “Offenbach Post” – and is initially limited to April 18. The few valid exceptions include taking care of medical care, exercising custody, professional activities and visiting relatives in a straight line as well as walking animals. A violation costs 200 euros.
Only when the seven-day incidence is below 200 for five consecutive days can the curfew be lifted. If that should happen on the Easter holidays, the curfew cannot be formally withdrawn because the “Offenbach Post” does not appear on those days. “If that were the case, we would no longer check on these days,” explained health department head Sabine Groß (Greens).
The curfew is intended to further reduce people’s contacts. “In Offenbach, the infections are spread across many places. Around half take place in private rooms at private meetings, ”says Groß. Exceeding the 200 is also accompanied by a renewed increase in the utilization of intensive care beds in the clinics and the further spread of the more easily transmissible mutation. “The risk of a continued and rapid increase is therefore very high,” says Groß.
There have been 152 new cases of infection since Friday alone. 625 people in Offenbach are currently infected with the coronavirus, 50 are being treated in hospital. But these are not just Offenbach residents, but also people from the surrounding area. Another 1108 Offenbach residents are in quarantine. The city had already imposed a curfew during the second wave from December 12 to January 5.
The Groß-Gerau district also announced a district-wide night curfew between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. given an incidence of just under 170. The corresponding ordinance applies here on Maundy Thursday, April 1, from midnight, the district announced.
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