Update 2 (Mar 26): The request to parishes to offer only digital services at Easter has also since been withdrawn. Presence services are to be allowed to take place according to the conditions that already applied at Christmas. This means that there will be a reduced number of available seats and the need for pre-registration. Please inform yourself about this at your church.
Update (Mar 24, 12:30pm): The planned Easter-"Ruhetage" are already off the table again. This has just announced Chancellor Angela Merkel. How this affects the decisions in Hesse, will be seen shortly. We will then of course update this article accordingly.
Original article:It was a short-lived pleasure. Retail stores and museums in Frankfort had only been open to the public for a few days. With the statewide incidence already above 100 for several days, the emergency brakes must now be pulled - at least a little. That means all indoor recreational and cultural facilities that just reopened (read: most museums) will close again, and retailers will have to switch from "Click & Meet" to "Click & Collect" once more. Other relaxations, such as opening outdoor dining, are once again a distant memory. After all: Zoo, Palmengarten or also the Hessenpark may remain open. Over the Easter holidays, the brake is then to be tightened even more sharply.
After the long negotiations of the federal and state governments on Monday, the Hessian Corona Cabinet also met to discuss the new resolutions for Hesse. Minister President Volker Bouffier announced them in a press conference. Thus, it is clear: The tightened lockdown will also apply in Hesse over Easter. On the so-called "rest days", public life is to be completely shut down, all true to the motto: #WirBleibenZuhause. Only on Holy Saturday will grocery stores be allowed to open. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions that will only be clarified in the coming days. Will grocery stores really stay closed on Holy Thursday? What do the "days off" mean for employees? Do they automatically get the day off or do they have to take a day off? Clarity somehow looks different.
The fact is, on the other hand, that vaccination and testing centres will remain open on all rest days and holidays. And gas stations would also remain in operation. Of course, if the unanswered questions surrounding the "rest days" are resolved in the coming days, we will keep you posted about it here.
And these are the measures applicable to Hesse in detail:
Existing ordinances will be suspended from Monday, 29.3.21, until April 18.
There will be no further opening steps.
The emergency brake will be implemented uniformly statewide by ordinance.
The previous contact rule will apply, meaning 2 households up to a maximum of 5 people over the age of 14 will be allowed together.
Click&Meet will revert to Click&Collect.
Zoos, botanical gardens and outdoor museums will remain open. Closed spaces may not open to the public.
Open-air group sports for children under 14 will remain available.
Individual sports are possible according to the contact rule (indoor and outdoor).
Bookstores, garden markets, and body-related services remain open regardless of incidence.
Under the Hessian escalation level concept, counties can react to their local situation when incidences increase. Possible are then for example:
Nightly curfews from 21:00 to 5:00.
School closures, as before, can only be made with the approval of the state, ie.That is, in consultation with the State Board of Education.
Urgent recommendation to daycare parents to care for children at home.
Visiting options in nursing homes and homes for the elderly will be expanded to 2 people per day, effective 4/1/21.
It is to be tested in Hesse as a model how a partial opening of public life in e.g. cities/regions with low incidences in combination with a testing regime affects the infection figures. Specifically, tested citizens could then, for example, go to the theater, go shopping, and more.
