display

WORLD:

Münster is in a situation that everyone nationwide longs for: The incidence value in your city has been below 50 for several days. What makes Münster better than others, Mr. Heuer?

Wolfgang Heuer: In

short, the lockdown works in Münster.

The vast majority of people here stick to the rules and accept the protective measures.

Although we are a big city with 315,000 inhabitants, people particularly identify with this city.

The people of Münster have shown a great sense of solidarity in other crisis situations in recent years.

This attitude makes it a lot easier to get through this crisis.

In addition, through very intensive public relations work, we increased our sensitivity to solidarity early on.

The number of infections has decreased significantly since the end of December.

display

WELT:

Münster also had incidence values ​​over 100.

This year:

We were in a good situation for a long time last autumn, while the number of infections rose explosively throughout North Rhine-Westphalia.

But then we made up for this bad development in a very short time.

In the end, Münster could not remain an exception to the spread of Covid-19 throughout Germany.

We reached our maximum around Christmas, the highest incidence value was 130 on December 23rd. We had no simple or logical explanation for this escalation.

"We are also prepared if the situation should worsen again," says Münster's crisis team leader Wolfgang Heuer

Source: Office for Communication City of Münster

WORLD:

That means that you were, like all municipal crisis teams across Germany, in the situation that you could no longer trace the infections?

display

Heuer:

No, that's not right.

Our health department was always able to track the contacts.

WELT:

The loss of control of the health authorities has become firmly established in the public memory, also because top politicians repeatedly emphasize that the contacts can only be traced back to an incidence of 50.

Heuer: In

the summer of last year, we prepared for the second wave, among other things by training staff from the city administration and external employees on a large scale in order to ensure contact tracking even with high incidence values.

We didn't know at the time whether the second wave was actually coming, but we wanted to be prepared.

It was clear to us that more staff would of course be needed when the numbers increase.

display

I understand that politics needs certain numerical values ​​to provide orientation.

But we can still fully trace the contacts even if the incidence value is over 50.

At least for Münster it is not true that the health department has lost control of the situation, on the contrary.

We are also prepared if the situation should deteriorate again.

WORLD:

Does Münster, as a university and administrative location, benefit from the fact that thousands of students and administrative staff have been working online for months?

Heuer:

We don't have any reliable statistics on this, but perhaps as a service center in Münster, the possibilities of working from home are better than, for example, in a more industrial community.

Perhaps it also plays a role that there weren't any major outbreaks here like in other cities, such as in meat factories or in old people's homes.

My impression is that municipalities that suffer such a "base event" with an explosive spread have a very difficult time getting down from the high numbers.

Fortunately, we did not have such focus problems, rather the infections were diffuse individual events in many places that could be contained better.

WORLD:

And that in the bicycle stronghold of Münster, many prefer to ride their bikes than get on full buses and trains?

Heuer:

I haven't heard this argument yet, but it would certainly be interesting to find out whether other cities with a lot of bicycle traffic are also seeing a more favorable course of the pandemic.

WORLD:

If Münster stays under 50, what does that mean for possible easing?

Is your crisis team also considering withdrawing restrictions so that people can regain old freedoms?

display

This year:

We had bad values ​​for two and a half months and are now under 50 for just a few days. So we are not over the mountain yet and should not arouse expectations of extensive relaxation now.

But we have the hope that we are not far from it.

The current state ordinance says: If we stay under 50 for seven days, we have the opportunity to talk to the NRW Ministry of Health about it.

This is where you will find third-party content

In order to interact with or display content from third-party providers, we need your consent.

Activate external content

I consent to content from third parties being displayed to me.

This allows personal data to be transmitted to third-party providers.

This may require the storage of cookies on your device.

More information can be found here.

We would certainly like to give the people of Münster a signal that restrictions can be lifted at one point or another.

But the situation in all of Germany is still very serious.

Münster is a regional center in a region with very different incidence values.

If we open schools or shops earlier than the neighboring communities, many would commute from abroad.

So we mustn't rush anything.

We saw what happened last year: after the easing in the summer, the situation deteriorated significantly.

WORLD:

What do you think of the “ZeroCovid” debate, according to which a return to normality should only be possible again when the virus has completely disappeared?

Heuer:

I know this approach, but I have to say quite honestly: We are currently having great difficulties in Germany with the current lockdown to reduce the number of infections, so I don't understand that the citizens are also expected to use this option.

I do not believe in this discussion about "ZeroCovid".

Zero Covid and No Covid - That's the difference

Even if the numbers are slowly falling - the fight against corona is apparently not making any progress.

Some initiatives therefore call for a rethink.

This ranges from a Europe-wide complete shutdown to a breakdown into infection zones.

Source: WELT / Lea Freist, Jonas Feldt

We should concentrate on implementing the measures that have been decided, instead of creating uncertainty with new approaches and twists.

Even as the head of the local crisis team, I have noticed that I am getting tired of constantly proposing new models and measures - and I can understand why many citizens feel the same way.

WORLD:

How big is your disappointment with the sluggish vaccination process?

This year:

Our vaccination center has been ready to go since December 15th.

We could vaccinate more than 2000 people a day.

Unfortunately, we had to postpone the start to February 8th because there wasn't enough vaccine.

So far, vaccination has only taken place in care facilities and some hospitals.

This is where you will find third-party content

In order to interact with or display content from third-party providers, we need your consent.

Activate external content

I consent to content from third parties being displayed to me.

This allows personal data to be transmitted to third-party providers.

This may require the storage of cookies on your device.

More information can be found here.

On the one hand, we are happy that science and the pharmaceutical industry have succeeded in developing a vaccine so quickly.

On the other hand, we are frustrated that delivery is now taking longer than planned.