1. Pretty odd story....a hospital unit in Berlin (Humbolt Clinic) was shut down entirely in the past 24 hours....due to massive Covid-19 infection getting into the facility. This is the new variant, and apparently has scared a lot of folks working in the unit. Total absolute quarantine now on the clinic.
2. The state of Thuringia in Germany....announced yesterday that schools are shut down in the state until Easter (4 April). A lot of criticism has been dumped on the Education Minister for this decision. Schools would basically continue with virtual learning.
3. Dead as of nationwide for past 24 hours? 772. Germans newly infected for past 24 hours? 14,285.
4. More freedom for vaccinated Germans, over non-vaccinated Germans? This is openly discussed now. I would expect it to be legally challenged and the court system will ask where this is listed in the Constitution.
The general idea is that you'd be allowed to travel past the German border, throughout Europe, with the vaccination (and proof of it). As for the numbers? No one can say with authority....how things will look in August. It might be 70-percent accepting vaccination....or it might be 90-percent. My guess is that this will flip into a political topic for the national election and hinder the CDU/SPD folks to some degree.
5. I noted last night watching ARD news....new trend has started up....because of the manpower shortage in hospitals. A number of unemployed folks (because of Covid-19) have taken up mini-jobs (meaning a limit of 450 Euro a month, for part-time work only). They are doing mostly work that would have been assigned to nurses (feeding patients, cleaning the rooms, getting patients from point 'A' to point 'B'). The lady being interviewed over this? Hairdresser.
6. More vaccine arriving in February? ARD had a piece this morning and suggested that the supply will increase...based on a new factory operation in Belgium.
7. Poll was done by ARD (public TV)....asking Germans how stressed they are with the ban rules. One out of two said they were either strongly or severely stressed.
The polling also was broken down by age. Amusingly enough....the older you were, the less frustration you had with the ban rules. The younger you were....the more frustration you had.
8. Increased night curfew coming? Well....this going to be discussed by Merkel and the sixteen Premier-Presidents on Tuesday.
The Chancellor wants to push for a 'copy' of the night-curfew that France has. Currently, France runs it from 6 PM to 6 AM. Only emergencies are allowed to break curfew.
Presently, the states are going with a 9 PM curfew. Acceptance to a 6 PM deal? I have my doubts that the states want to go to this extreme. At least with the 9 PM deal....you could still order out, and have pizza delivered. As for this affecting social life? Well....social life is non-existent now already (for at least three months).
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