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Press Release from the Hessen State Government from 23 APR 2021
Courtesy Translation: Alper Koemuer and Nadine Bower, Public Affairs Specialists
Hessen implements the Federal Infection Protection Act
Minister President Volker Bouffier: "The nationwide emergency brake is necessary - we are taking a big step forward with vaccinations."
In Hessen, the regulations of the Federal Infection Protection Act are adopted. The Hessen state government has also decided to adjust the existing COVID-19 regulations accordingly.
"Yesterday, the Bundesrat passed the Infection Protection Act. We are all aware that the new decisions will once again create huge challenges and significant restrictions for citizens," said Minister President Volker Bouffier. "Our goal of not overburdening the health system and containing the pandemic is still at the top of our agenda and as urgent as ever. That is why we have adopted the amendments to the Federal Infection Protection Act. In detail, this means that if the 7-day incidence exceeds 100 for three consecutive days, the Federal Emergency Brake will go into effect."
At the same time, Hessen is expanding its vaccination strategy and opening up appointment registration for prioritization group 3. "This is an important step in our vaccination strategy, our most important building block in the way out of the pandemic."
An overview of the most important changes to the Hessen regulations:
Schools:
For incidences below 100 (in a county / county-free city):
Grades 1-6: Alternating lessons
Grades 7-7: Alternating lessons (starting 6 May)
Graduation classes: Classroom lessons
Incidences up to 165 (in a county / county-free city):
All grades: alternating lessons
Incidence over 165 (in a county / county-free city):
Graduation classes (and supporting schools): alternating lessons
All other grades: Distance lessons with emergency care (Grades 1-6)
Exceptions to the mask requirement for final examinations are only possible with a negative corona test from the same day.
"The federal government's new regulation of the Infection Protection Act, the so-called 'emergency brake', and its impact on schools, cause me as Hessen’s Minister of Education stomach pains. For example, schools will now have to switch to distance education even earlier – starting with an incidence of 165 rather than 200. This leads to a further burden for pupils, their families and schools in many regions of Hessen. At the same time, however, we are aware of the increasingly difficult situation for students who have been in distance education since December and have not seen the interior of their schools," explained Minister of Education, Prof. Dr. R. Alexander Lorz.
Childcare / Kitas
Incidences up to 165 (in a county / county-free city): As before: Appeal to parents to core for their children at home if possible.
Incidence from 165 (district / county-free city): Emergency care.
Testing of daycare children: If the responsible daycare providers decide to test children regularly before the daycare visit, the country will cover half of the costs of the rapid tests.
"For families and children, the closure of daycare centers is an additional and significant burden. Nevertheless, I want to make sure that you all actively support this measure. Especially because of the higher infectivity of the British virus variant B 1.1.7., it is necessary to reduce contacts even more than before, which plays a special role in the everyday life of a daycare center," said Health Minister Klose. The design of emergency care services is based on the emergency care that the schools already offer to students. Parents in urgent need of care, in particular who are working and have no other means of care, can benefit from emergency care.
Contact Restrictions
Incidences below 100 (county / county-free city): Meeting of two households allowed.
Incidences over 100 (county / county-free city): 1 household + 1 person. Children under 14 years old do not count.
Stores / Shopping:
Food retailers and the suppliers of daily needs (such as drugstores) remain open. The following applies: mask obligation and customer limitation.
For all other stores (incl. tool stores) the following applies:
Incidences below 150 (county / county-free city): click & meet possible, i.e. shopping with appointment and current test. The following applies: mask obligation and limited number of customer.
Incidence over 150 (county / county-free city): click & collect possible, i.e. the collection of ordered goods.
Quarantine:
Persons with full vaccination protection do not need to be quarantined after returning from abroad, unless they enter from a virus variant area.
The quarantine obligation of the household members of Corona patients does not apply to persons with full vaccination protection, unless the vaccinated person or persons show symptoms of the disease.
Vaccination: Registration for third prioritization group now possible
The state government will do its utmost to provide vaccination to as many people as possible and as quickly as possible. Hessen opens the third prioritization group in accordance with the Federal Vaccination Ordinance. As of now, a total of about 1.5 million citizens eligible to be vaccinated in Hessen will now have the opportunity to register for vaccination against the Corona virus by telephone or online. These include, for example, employees of retail, fire and civil protection and child and youth services. Members of prioritization groups 1 and 2 will continue to receive priority vaccination.
Fact sheet vaccination:
In some regions, only a few people entitled to vaccination: in several municipalities, there will be no more registered beneficiaries from priority groups 1 and 2. The reason is that in some parts of the country, on average, there are comparatively fewer older citizens than others. For example, people who belong to the prioritization group 3 and live in Frankfurt and Offenbach or the district of Groß-Gerau can be vaccinated very quickly. In other regions, beneficiaries of prioritization group 2 are still being vaccinated before persons in prioritization group 3 can receive an appointment.
Pilot procedure for company doctors: Starting in June 2021, company doctors will also start vaccinating nationwide. The state government will start a pilot procedure with four companies that are systemically important for vaccination progresses in Hessen and the Federal Republic.
Dates for Prio groups 1 and 2: Members of prioritization groups 1 and 2 who have not yet been vaccinated will receive an appointment offer in the next few days and will receive their first dose in May 2021. Eligible persons from Groups 1 and 2 can still register.
Astra60plus dates: Since last Friday, around 700,000 Hessen citizens between the ages of 60 and 69 have had the opportunity to register for a vaccination with the highly effective vaccine from Astrazeneca. More than 116,000 people have registered since then and more than 14,000 have already received the first vaccination with the active substance.
Vaccinations with Astrazeneca for under 60 year-olds: From now on, people who have not yet reached the age of 60 can be vaccinated with the vaccine of the company Astrazeneca. In addition to the availability of the vaccine, the prerequisite for this is the individual readiness of the currently eligible person as well as a corresponding consultation of the vaccinating doctor and an individual risk assessment.
Hessen’s Interior Minister Peter Beuth said: "With the opening of Group 3, more than half of Hessen’s people are eligible to be vaccinated as of today. Around 20.2% of citizens have already been vaccinated at least once. We want to protect as many people as possible from the Corona virus as soon as possible. I call on all members of group 3 to register. Depending on the progress made in the 28 Hessen vaccination centers, appointments can be made at very short notice. In consultation with the municipalities, we have once again increased our capacities, reaching a new high in the last calendar week with more than 170,000 vaccinations. We will be able to increase this level again by Sunday. Our motto is: all available active ingredients should be used directly."
In several counties and district-free cities, all registered persons from the previously prioritized groups 1 and 2 will be vaccinated or have received vaccination appointments in a few days. This is not necessarily due to the individual vaccination rate in the local authority, but rather to the sometimes significantly different age structure. "If there are no longer enough eligible citizens available for vaccination in individual regions, it is imperative to open up group 3. If it is your turn and you want to get vaccinated, you should also get it as soon as possible," explained the Hessen Minister of the Interior.
Prioritization group 3: Who is eligible to be vaccinated now?
Like the already prioritized group 2, the now open group 3 is also very heterogeneous. Eligible persons of prioritization group 3 have an increased priority according to the nationwide vaccination ordinance and are therefore vaccinated with high priority. All persons named in paragraph 4 of the Corona Vaccination Ordinance of the Federal Ministry of Health can register. In principle, the claim can be derived for reasons of age, health or occupation.
- Some 700,000 Hessians aged 60 to 69 are in group 3.
- Regardless of their age, people with an increased risk of a severe course of disease with corona infection also belong to group 3, such as, for example, people with acute heart disease, asthma, rheumatism or autoimmune diseases.
- Because of their profession, in addition to the aforementioned firefighters and disaster relief workers, a large number of other people are eligible to be vaccinated. This includes, for example, members and employees of constitutional bodies (such as federal and state parliamentarians, parts of the administration or election workers), employees in the field of critical infrastructure (f. ex. of the pharmaceutical industry or energy supply) or employees of the food retail trade.
As with group 2, the number of persons eligible to be vaccinated in group 3 can only be estimated: up to 1.5 million people in Hessen could be covered by the provision.
The exact wording of the Vaccination Ordinance with the indication of the entitled persons can be found here.
State launches pilot procedure for company vaccinations
Because hundreds of thousands of people can be vaccinated in the third prioritization group on the basis of their professional activities, in addition to vaccination centers and family doctors’ practices, vaccinations in companies are to form a third pillar in the nationwide vaccination campaign. The aim is to use existing structures for an effective vaccination organization. As early as June 2021, the federal government is planning a regular care of prioritized institutions with corresponding possibilities for the vaccination of the workforce by company doctors, similar to the procedure for family doctors.
The state of Hessen will start a pilot procedure with the pharmaceutical companies Merck KGaA from Darmstadt, Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmbH from Frankfurt, B. Braun Melsungen AG and Marburger Pharmaserv GmbH. According to the Federal Vaccination Ordinance, the employees there are members of prioritization group 3 and also contribute with their work to the progress of vaccination in the Federal Republic. "Companies like Biontech rely on the continuous delivery of numerous ingredients before a ready-made impregnation can be delivered. In addition, our doctors need millions of vaccination accessories to be able to administer the doses. All four companies are particularly, systemically important because their work directly contributes to supporting the vaccination campaign in Germany," explained Interior Minister Peter Beuth.
More emergency workers are receiving vaccination offers quickly
With the opening of prioritization group 3, more than 70,000 members of the fire brigades and civil protection will receive a fast path to vaccination. "This is good news for our volunteers. They need the necessary security in dealing with those in need for their life-saving voluntary service. In addition, their long-term operational readiness is particularly important. I thank the volunteers for their patience and I am pleased that I can now make this offer to all of them," said Interior Minister Peter Beuth.
Vaccination progress in Hesse
As of Apr. 22, 2021, a total of 1,270,206 initial vaccinations and 461,592 second vaccinations were carried out in Hessen. Around 130,000 registered beneficiaries, most of them from prioritization group 2, will receive their appointment offers later this month and are due to receive their initial vaccinations by the end of May at the latest.
Today, Hessen ranks 6th in completed vaccinations (second vaccinations) with a rate of 7.3 percent of the total population, well above the national average. Our state will catch up again in the next few days in first dose vaccinations measurably. The differences and fluctuations are partly due to the periodic appointments. Currently, there are simply more second vaccinations with the Biontech vaccine (between three and six weeks apart between first and second vaccination).
A valid comparison of the federal states is only possible to a limited extent, because the number of vaccine doses delivered no longer corresponds to the population quota according to Königsteiner Schlüssel. While the Saarland has received 38.5 doses of vaccination per 100 inhabitants, 30 doses have been delivered to Hessen. In addition, Hessen has always complied with the federal government's recommendations to ensure second vaccinations. For this purpose, only a minimum reserve is retained in the central camps in order to be able to guarantee the important secondary vaccinations – also in view of constantly changing conditions. To date, therefore, almost no vaccination appointments have had to be cancelled in Hessen due to a lack of vaccines, as was and is the case in other federal states.
Within a calendar week, almost all the doses of vaccination from the state to the vaccination centers were used. All other doses are in the vaccination centers. The state’s requirement is that all doses of vaccination provided should also be used as soon as possible. Own provisions of the counties are not necessary, as the country always ensures that agreed dates are also deposited with the corresponding number of vaccination doses. The country has asked the vaccination centers to release their own provisions for vaccination doses as soon as possible for the oncoming procedure. Already with the deployment order of 28 January 2021, the country has called on all local authorities to ensure that no vaccine forfeited due to overlay. In addition, the Land of Hessen has recommended that the vaccination centers keep "back-up lists" under their own responsibility, on which quickly available groups of persons to be vaccinated are listed.
Fact sheet schools:
Up to a 7-day incidence of 165 in a county or county-free city:
All schools teach in an alternating model. The start of this for grades 7 and older is on Thursday, May 6. In the case of a 7-day incidence of up to 100, classroom lessons can take place in the graduating classes.
On the basis of the Federal Act, alternating lessons also apply to graduation classes that have previously been taught in the classroom in Hessen. The start of the alternating lessons should take place there in a timely manner, but no later than Monday, 3 May 2021.
7-day incidence of over 165 in a county or county-free city (exceeding three consecutive days)
Distance teaching will take place for all grades starting two days after the incidence of 165 was reached.
Exception for graduation classes and support schools. These remain in alternating classes even with an incidence of more than 165.
If the 7-day incidence remains below 165 for five consecutive working days, schools can work switch back to an alternating model again. Emergency care in the case of alternating and distance teaching will continue to be provided in accordance with the well-known rules for up to and including year six.
Source: https://www.hessen.de/presse/pressemitteilung/hessen-setzt-bundesinfektionsschutzgesetz-um-0
| Date Taken: | 05.07.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 05.10.2021 05:56 |
| Story ID: | 395875 |
| Location: | WIESBADEN, HE, DE |
| Web Views: | 77 |
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