Coronavirus, Germany launches new restrictions. Merkel after a summit-flop with land: “Exponential contagion, we risk loss of control”

At the end of the meeting, still behind closed doors, Angela Merkel would have described the results of the eight hours of consultations with the governors as “unsatisfactory”. The decisions made, according to various media reports, “are not rigorous enough to avert a disaster”. At the press conference, the chancellor was not so explicit on the outcome of the long and quarrelsome face to face with the prime ministers of the land. But it failed to hide some dissatisfaction. And she was clear about the extent of the challenge that awaits Germany: “gigantic, secular”.

The pandemic, he announced at a press conference, is already showing an “exponential” trend and “we must avoid the loss of control”. This is “the aspect that worries me most – he specified – we must stop the exponential increase in infections, otherwise we will not have a good ending”. Merkel warned that “from an economic point of view we cannot afford a second wave”.

The new restrictions will take effect as soon as a certain alarm threshold is exceeded. In hot spots, that is, in areas with strong accelerations in infections, a ban on private parties with more than 10 participants is introduced. The measure comes into force when the number of infected exceeds the threshold of 50 in 7 days for every 100 thousand inhabitants. Beyond that threshold there is also a curfew, that is, the closure of the premises and the ban on the sale of alcohol starting from 11 pm. And even outdoors, a maximum of ten can meet.

But already over 35 cases per 100 thousand will be worth the obligation of a mask “where people gather more numerous and / or longer”. In part, these rules already existed. And the governor of Bavaria Markus Soeder was almost brutal on the result of the meeting: “I don’t know if these measures will be enough”. And he added that “we are in a somewhat worse situation than in spring”. Before us, he pointed out, there is not summer, but winter.

On the eve of the crucial appointment, for millions of families, of the autumn school holidays, the executive failed to agree with the governors on a crucial point. A unitary rule on the ban on overnight stays, already decided in no particular order by some lands, has not been reached and will be discussed again in November, after the holidays. Even on the fines, the chancellor was unable to find the square with the prime ministers of the regions. “On overnight stays – he specified – the discussion was long and the result is unsatisfactory”. Meanwhile, Merkel has launched an appeal to citizens “to avoid unnecessary travel”, especially “to those who come from hot spots”.

The chancellor also addressed the young people and asked that “they give up some party to enjoy life beyond”. And he renewed his invitation to abide by the rules of distancing, to wear masks, to ventilate the rooms. And he asked all Germans to “reduce contact”.

At the beginning of the meeting, the virologist of the Helmholtz Center in Braunschweig, Michael Meyer-Hermann, urged the governors to act quickly: “we are not 5 minutes from 12, we are at 12”, using a metaphor widely used in Germany to express a particularly pressing urgency. And the reference was in particular to the statements that had preceded the stormy meeting between the prime ministers of the land and the government, first of all that of the governor of Bavaria, Markus Soeder (CSU), who had warned “we are 5 minutes from 12”.

His party mate and interior minister, Horst Seehofer, also had clear words: “I would like to underline the gravity of the situation,” said the former governor of Bavaria. “If we don’t make serious decisions, the next lockdown will be inevitable.” In short, Bavaria, one of the lands with the most severe restrictions since the beginning of the pandemic, wanted to sound the alarm even before the meeting. But according to the virologist, the catastrophe is no longer imminent: it is already in full swing.

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