The lamentation of many business people in Mainfranken because of the Corona crisis is not getting quieter. Especially not after the resolutions of the Bund-Lnder Round on Tuesday night, which primarily mean tightening the lockdown over Easter.
“This is a catastrophe for retail,” said the Lower Franconian managing director of the HBE branch association, Volker Wedde, in Wrzburg. After Easter and Christmas 2020, there will be another phase of high sales for businesspeople, at least a little.
Wedde is certain that there will be a rush to the shops on Easter Saturday because of the shutdown on Green Thursday. And that on a day “which is already heavily frequented”. On Tuesday he received constant calls from retailers who primarily wanted to know how they should cope with the influx of customers in a corona-compliant manner.
The district manager did not always have answers, as he said on Tuesday with a view to the state government. “It is the case again that we have to wait for concrete evidence.” In particular, questions about admission controls in the shops and labor law on Easter Saturday are unanswered.
“He is pushing other entrepreneurial families financially and, above all, psychologically.”
Frank Bernard from the Association of Self-Employed in Lohr on the tightened lockdown–
The reason is that this year Easter Saturday and Green Thursday are days of rest on which shops are closed and nobody should work. On Saturday in Bavaria only the “grocery trade in the narrower sense” is allowed to open the shops. However, according to Wedde, it is not clear which transactions are meant in detail and what this means for the staff.
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The Bund der Selbstndigen (BDS) in Bavaria described the decisions of the Bund-Lnder Round on Tuesday as “another botch” of politics. To proclaim Green Thursday as a day of rest “is a completely half-baked, political compromise formula”, BDS President Gabriele Sehorz is quoted in a statement.
Sharp criticism also from the IHK Wrzburg-Schweinfurt
The northern Bavarian BDS managing director Frank Bernard from Lohr (District Main-Spessart) added: “Another lockdown will not achieve the goal of lowering the incidence, but will only push other entrepreneurial families financially and, above all, psychologically.” The BDS is calling for a move away from the strict lockdown policy.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) Wrzburg-Schweinfurt also strongly criticized the resolutions. The new situation is “equivalent to a declaration of bankruptcy for the corona policy,” said General Manager Ralf Jahn. “The chaos surrounding the so-called rest day regulation on Green Thursday and Holy Saturday completes the picture.”
Jahn describes it as a ray of hope that after the Easter break in Bavaria, retailers in areas with an incidence of more than 100 are allowed to offer purchases with an appointment (“Click & Meet”). Jahn considers the model projects with store openings in La Tbingen, also announced for after Easter, to be “too few”. This idea came way too late.
Tbingen recently made a move that attracted nationwide attention with mandatory rapid tests for customers. The aim was to ensure that restaurants, retailers, hotels and cultural institutions can reopen.
Gastronomy functionr sees a particular problem
Green Thursday as a day off feels “like a blow to the office”, especially in manufacturing and gradually recovering companies, according to the IHK boss. “The mood in the economy is at freezing point.”
Lower Franconia’s district manager Michael Schwgerl from the Dehoga restaurant association puts it similarly: “The frustration is very great.” The decisions of the Bund-Lnder Round still do not give the innkeepers and hoteliers sufficient prospects.
“A declaration of bankruptcy of the corona policy.”
IHK general manager Ralf Jahn on the latest decisions–
If inns and especially beer gardens are allowed to reopen soon, Schwgerl sees a particular problem: there is a lack of draft beer because the breweries have shut down production due to the closed pubs. For the reopening, the innkeepers therefore “definitely needed a lead time of three or four weeks”.
General manager Ludwig Paul from the Chamber of Crafts for Lower Franconia shows a certain understanding of the strict lockdown over Easter. This new rule could help to slow down the third corona wave. Paul called on politicians to use vaccinations, corona tests, contact tracing and “sophisticated hygiene concepts” across the board in order to secure jobs.
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