Restaurants not yet allowed to reopen under current legislation

Relaxations require a legal basis

Contrary to what was announced today by the Thuringian state government, the closure of the hospitality industry last ordered by the Free State of Thuringia on May 3, 2020 will continue to apply for the time being. This cannot be changed by announcements to the press, but only by the issue of a new ordinance to contain the pandemic by the Free State, which is not expected before the middle of next week.

There is no legal basis for the city of Jena to deviate from the closure ordered to date. Rather, the city of Jena, as the regulatory authority, is still bound by the applicable legal situation, which, according to the catalog of fines of the Free State of Thuringia, provides for a fine of €4,000 in the event of a violation of the ordered closure of the catering establishment.

Incomprehension about contradictory reports

For the Jena crisis team, it is completely incomprehensible why uncertainty is being stirred up by misleading information from the state.

In Jena in particular, we have done a lot in recent weeks to get through this crisis as safely and quickly as possible. We are very pleased that we can now return to more normality in many areas by acting quickly and stringently. Nevertheless - or rather because of this - the city of Jena is extremely critical of the uncoordinated approach to the reopening of public life, which in some cases goes against the clear advice of experts. The overbidding competition is jeopardizing the very successes achieved to date, for which many sectors of the economy in particular have already paid a high price.

Responsibility urged

The reference to regional responsibility is certainly necessary to a certain extent and has also been exemplified by the city of Jena in recent weeks. However, the almost complete withdrawal of clear and reliable rules for the whole of Thuringia announced by the Thuringian state government appears to be a lack of responsible action in view of the infection dynamics throughout Germany and also in individual Thuringian regions. How can infection control be helped if the inhabitants of a very badly affected area such as the district of Greiz simply travel to the neighboring district because facilities are only closed in their area?

The city of Jena expects the Thuringian state government to continue to take responsibility itself with clear guidelines and binding timetables and not to respond to the public call for easing measures by shifting this responsibility almost entirely to the districts and municipalities.

Dr. Thomas Nitzsche I Christian Gerlitz I Benjamin Koppe I Eberhard Hertzsch