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Plenty of sunshine and temperatures in some cases early summer had drawn people out into the open en masse in the past few days.

For a long time, the people who have been worn down by Corona can no longer be kept in their homes and home office - this should have become clear to the Chancellor, her cabinet and the country leaders in the past few days.

With this impression and the economic damage in mind, the federal states are working on drafts for easing plans in the run-up to the meeting with the Chancellor next Wednesday.

It is clear that from the beginning of March there will be openings and steps towards normality.

However, it is also becoming apparent that these will be more subdued.

Going to the hairdresser, to the garden center and occasionally to a shop - much more is not planned if the number of infections does not decrease significantly.

And they don't do that anymore.

CDU-governed countries have each presented their own variants for individual appointments - the SPD-led countries are working on a joint draft.

The vote is appropriate, after all, the federal and state governments want to agree on a largely uniform approach to loosening lockdowns on March 3rd.

And despite their timidity, these plans have one thing in common: They show that those responsible for politics have learned something new in crisis management.

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Because the seven-day incidence - the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within a week - is no longer the all-dominant indicator in the opening plans that should decide whether to relax or tighten it.

"We need a nationwide step-by-step plan that takes into account not only the incidence but also factors such as the utilization of the health system, the possibilities of tracking infected people or the quota of vaccinated people," said Carsten Schneider, the parliamentary manager of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag Position of the social democrats in the federal government and in the states together.

Consensus in two areas

In this case, there is even agreement with Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU).

“This pandemic cannot be reduced to a number,” he says of the incidence - for a long time, top politicians from the Union and the SPD focused almost exclusively on easing the situation.

And there is apparently a broad consensus on one more point: In addition to schools and daycare centers, it is important to open up trade.

Even if this is only approached very tentatively according to the previous plans.

As early as Monday, hairdressing salons, as well as garden centers, nurseries and flower shops in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Brandenburg as well as North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia can reopen.

That had already been decided.

For Hessen, Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) has now announced the plan to open retail outlets if customers make an appointment and get a “personal salesman” in the store.

The assessment of the Corona room for maneuver in Hesse will no longer depend on the incidences in the future, Bouffier announced.

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Rhineland-Palatinate wants to allow so-called date shopping even before the federal-state meeting.

Similar to Hesse, individual appointments are given to customers after prior agreement, although only one household is allowed to enter the shop.

In other federal states, either cosmetic studios or driving or even flight schools are to be opened - depending on regional assessments.

In order to avoid a patchwork of unmanageable rules in the end, the SPD countries are working on a uniform opening plan.

The SPD's plan is particularly noteworthy because it is being developed under the auspices of Berlin's Governing Mayor Michael Müller, but it actually gives up the exclusive fixation on incidence values.

Müller, who is currently coordinating the SPD federal states in rotation, has always placed incidence at the center of considerations in all of his concepts.

Now it says in the draft under the section “Assessment factors”: “The incidence values ​​plus dynamic factors” are decisive for easing.

According to the paper, these include the reproductive value, i.e. the infection rate, the utilization of the intensive care beds or the rate of those who have already been vaccinated.

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Relaxation is therefore possible in four stages, which are called "clusters" in the concept.

“Cluster 0”, ie the first easing, can be carried out if the incidence value is below 50 within seven days and the so-called dynamic factors show a positive development - but even then one can hardly speak of easing.

In addition to some sporting activities, only the operation of weekly markets, medically necessary services as well as basic supplies or shopping according to the “Click & Collect” principle, i.e. by pre-order, would still be permitted.

According to this scenario, only people from your own household are allowed to meet another person.

In “Cluster 1” there should be five people from two households;

but that only applies if the incidence value is below 35 for seven days and the dynamic factors continue to show a positive trend.

Then shops should be allowed to open, whereby only one customer is allowed per ten square meters, from 800 square meters total area per customer 20 square meters.

Then the outdoor catering should also open again - but only for up to five people per restaurant.

Some federal states will start easing slightly from Monday

Around a week before the next federal-state summit, some prime ministers have already announced slight easing.

From Monday, some limited visits to shops should be possible again.

Source: WORLD

If the incidence value 35 remains stable for 14 days, or if it falls, and the dynamic factors develop positively, according to "Cluster 2" a maximum of ten people from three households should be allowed to meet;

in addition, bars, hotels and solariums should be allowed to reopen.

No further relief would be provided for the retail trade.

These would only be available for retailers in small steps if the 35 value then remained stable for at least another 14 days.

After all, museums would then be reopened, sport would be possible again on a large scale, as would outdoor events with up to 750 people.

Incidentally, the SPD minister-presidents do not address the subject of schools and daycare centers in their paper.

That is a matter for the federal states - and the federal states have already gone their own way.