Somehow it seems a long time since I wrote about the Corona virus on this site. Having “coped” through the summer, it was mid-October when the number of infections started to rise again.
The measures were tightened up again at the beginning of November, primarily hitting restaurants who – having invested in heating for outdoor seating and plastic screens – were suddenly told that they could only offer delivery and collection services.
But the numbers continued to rise. Locally in Hochtaunuskreis they went from around 50 cases per 100,000 people in 7 days in mid-October, to 120 at the start of November, hitting a peak of 207 in the middle of the month. Having gone back down to 105 as measures started to take effect, at the time of writing they are now back up to 143.
Perhaps more critically, the number of deaths has risen sharply. Whilst the number in Hochtaunuskreis remained in single digits between March and October, there have been 70 deaths in the past eight weeks.
And so it is, that just before Christmas we will be returning to a state of lockdown from the coming Wednesday. Only shops selling essential products such as supermarkets, chemists and petrol stations may remain open, as well as banks, post offices, newsagents and a number of other exceptions.
The usual selling of fireworks in the days before Silvester will be forbidden, and although the rules will be relaxed slightly between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, only a maximum of five people aged 14 and over from a maximum two households may meet at any one time. The consumption of alcohol in public will be forbidden completely until after 10th January.
Children will not be required to attend school in person until after the Christmas holidays, although they be required to do school work at home or have online lessons.
And if all that doesn’t help, any area that has sees their infection rate reach 200 (new infections per 100,000 population in the past 7 days) on three consecutive days, will have a night curfew between 9pm and 5am introduced.
For some areas, the night curfew has already begun.
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