Pandemic out of control in Thuringia

The 7-day incidence for Thuringia is currently almost 900, in some districts even around 1,400. 7-day incidences are also extremely high in Jena, currently around 650, and much worse for children aged between 6 and 10 at over 1,500. In other regions of Thuringia, incidences of 3,000 to 4,000 among primary school children can be assumed at this ratio. A constant and often diffuse outbreak in daycare centers and schools means that almost all facilities are currently affected by new infections or subsequent cases.

Just a few weeks ago, the city of Jena was forbidden to stipulate any testing at all in the daycare centers. In mid-November, there were then not enough tests available at schools in many cases. Despite this, the TMBJS continues to refuse to allow Jena to test in community facilities using the PCR pools that have been tried and tested in other federal states and are safer in Jena's daycare centers. In addition, the TMBJS has repeatedly resisted calls from childcare providers and districts to expand testing options across the board, particularly in daycare centers. In view of the alarming incidences and the nationwide overload in the public health service, it is accepted that there will be an unchecked infection in schools by the end of the year. Children in grades 1 to 6 in particular will probably not have the opportunity to protect themselves with vaccinations until the end of the year.

Mayor Christian Gerlitz commented on this:
"Keeping schools open is also a particularly important priority for us. However, the Thuringian Ministry of Education should also have implemented protection concepts in recent months that contribute to a stable infection situation. The Ministry's recklessness in prohibiting testing in schools is now taking its revenge. Nowhere else is the combination of incidences and the number of cases in hospitals as devastating as in Thuringia. We are now hurtling unchecked towards the abyss. We already have to acknowledge that the collapse of the healthcare system can no longer be averted in a few weeks' time."

Mayor Gerlitz is therefore making the following demands in the areas of daycare centers and schools:

Thuringia must immediately ensure that testing facilities are available to all daycare centers.
There must be mandatory daily tests in schools, as is already the case in other federal states.
Compulsory attendance, especially for years 1 to 6, must be lifted until the Christmas vacations, as these children will probably only be able to protect themselves from infection with vaccinations from the end of the year. Here, too, there are already corresponding regulations in other federal states.
The school vacations must be brought forward, as in other federal states. Announcing this now will give schools more planning security.If possible, December 13 should be chosen for this - or at least for the end of in-person classes.

At the same time, it is imperative that other areas are also tightened up. Due to the epidemiological emergency lifted by the Bundestag, particularly affected federal states currently lack the legal options to reapply many of the instruments that have been successful in containing the pandemic in recent waves. The Bundestag must immediately clear the way here and declare an epidemiological emergency again. We now need a catalog of further-reaching provisions in the particularly affected areas and not a list of measures that even the Thuringian state parliament is currently not allowed to adopt.

Mayor Gerlitz said: "This makes it all the more important to use all remaining options to slow down the spread of infection. This must include, for example, the comprehensive prohibition of all events, whether business, private or cultural.
The emergency situation has already arisen. It is already clear that those who are newly infected today can no longer expect full medical care in three weeks' time, even if the infections were to decline rapidly. For this reason, Thuringia should also declare a state of emergency now in order to be able to use all the instruments available to support the healthcare system and hospitals."