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Stefan Bär is district administrator in the Baden-Württemberg district of Tuttlingen, less than half an hour from Lake Constance.

The former district parliamentary group leader of the Free Voters is not very good at talking about the green-black state government in Stuttgart.

Corona requirements, "which change every three days," said Bär, always new orders, but no help or even detailed information on how all of this should be implemented on site.

“You could have done it differently,” says the head of administration annoyed.

Last but not least, he is struck by the way the government communicates.

"We would like to see that we don't always hear new rules from the press."

The latest upset: the exit restriction for districts or cities with a seven-day incidence of over 200 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants.

The state government decided on Thursday that citizens of Corona hotspots in the country are initially only allowed to leave their apartments at night with good reason.

Exceptions should only apply to medical emergencies, commuting or taking the dog for a walk.

The new rules should come into effect next week.

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Mannheim is the first municipality to advance with its incidence of well over 200.

The residents there have had to stay at home since Friday evening from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.

In principle, each municipality can also take its own measures in coordination with the health department.

The announced official decree from Stuttgart, which should also regulate further restrictions in the hotspot areas such as event bans or the closure of hairdressers, was only available to the municipalities on Friday afternoon.

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Tuttlingen District Administrator Bär believes the exit restrictions are hardly enforceable, at least not in a large district and without additional police forces.

Exit restrictions wouldn't work without controls, but the local officials weren't enough, he says.

Actually, additional forces should be turned off.

Unfortunately, they “didn't hear anything” from the country.

The Tuttlingen district therefore decided on Friday to drastically restrict public life - events are prohibited with a few exceptions, public and private meetings are strictly limited around the clock.

But the administration will advise again about the night curfew, says Bär.

"We don't see any automatism."

Where there are exit restrictions in Germany

Baden-Württemberg is not alone with the decision to tighten the corona measures in hotspots and to include exit restrictions in the weapons arsenal against the virus.

Because the "Lockdown Light" did not bring the hoped-for successes, measures were taken tougher especially in Bavaria and Saxony at the beginning of the week.

In the district of Leipzig, for example, according to the general decree, residents are now only allowed to leave their house or apartment during the day with good reason, i.e. to go to school or work, to do sports or to go shopping.

Masks are required in pedestrian zones and playgrounds, alcohol is prohibited in public places.

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Other districts had previously ordered similarly strict measures.

Bavaria also announced on Tuesday that it would tighten the anti-corona measures where the seven-day incidence is more than 300 infections.

These include Passau and Nuremberg, among others.

There are also curfews at night, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Even in Rhineland-Palatinate, where the state government saw no need for such steps, two cities have already marched off on their own.

Ludwigshafen and Speyer, both located directly on the Rhine and thus on the state border with Baden-Württemberg, no longer see any other chance of getting their high infection rates of more than 300 cases per 100,000 inhabitants under control.

"We want to prevent the living room meeting in the evening," said Ludwigshafen's mayor Jutta Steinruck (SPD).

Because there, the authorities suspect the source of a large part of those infections whose origin the health authorities can no longer trace.

With this measure, the city wants to make it clear to the citizens "how bad the situation is", said Steinruck.

The hospitals are at the attack, so they see no other choice.

"It's about saving human lives."

RKI President expects "many more deaths"

The President of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, expects numerous more deaths in Germany from the corona virus.

The number of severe courses and deaths is currently increasing from week to week.

Source: WORLD

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The police on the other side of the Rhine want to control the curfew with mobile units and with “very high presence” all night, with stationary and mobile units, announced the Mannheim Presidium.

Violations should cost at least 100 euros there.

The question is, however, whether the orders are legally valid at all.

In the spring, with the first lockdown, severe exit restrictions were overturned by the courts in Saarland, for example.

In the meantime, the Infection Protection Act has been expanded and specified.

The added paragraph 28a lists a number of possible measures to contain an infection, including exit restrictions and restrictive requirements, for example for family reunions.

But shortly before the Bundestag's vote on the amendment to the law, constitutional lawyer Andrea Kießling had doubts that it is compatible with the Basic Law to issue exit restrictions only at certain times.

“The virus is transmitted no differently at night than it does during the day,” says Kießling.

"I think the regulation is unconstitutional."

The president of the Baden-Württemberg community assembly, Roger Kehle, vehemently defends the drastic restrictions in the Corona hotspots.

Although it was a "violent remedy", after "painful deliberations" the state government's Corona steering committee came to the conclusion that there was no other option.

Had it been up to throat, a very tough lockdown would have been ordered between Christmas and Epiphany.

But other municipalities and the state government did not play along.

It is also questionable how useful a nighttime exit restriction can be when all restaurants and bars are closed anyway and therefore significantly fewer people are out and about than during the day when Christmas shopping.

Kehle is convinced, however, that the nightly blocking time helps, because of too many private meetings.

Because there is apparently: "If everyone adhered to the measures, the numbers would have to have declined."