Incidences slightly down: Associations call for security personnel on buses and trains

After Hesse's Prime Minister Volker Bouffier announced the new corona rules for the state on Tuesday, there was a little hope-raising news on Wednesday: In Hesse, 3132 people were demonstrably infected with the corona virus within one day. The day before, the increase was 1767 infected. The seven-day incidence, i.e. the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within a week, fell slightly on Wednesday, according to the Robert Koch Institute (as of 3:32 a.m.) to 268.3, from 272.7 the previous day. The incidences are nevertheless everywhere in the cities and districts of the Rhine-Main area beyond the 200 mark, Frankfurt has 337, the Odenwaldkreis is at the top with 561. 14 other people died of or with Covid-19.This brings the number of deaths related to the disease since the beginning of the pandemic to 8,157.

According to the Hessian Ministry of Social Affairs, the hospitalization incidence, which is important for the procedure in the corona pandemic, was 4.24 on Wednesday.

A week earlier, the number of new admissions of Covid 19 sufferers in hospitals based on 100,000 residents in the country was 4.43.

According to data from the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (Divi), 281 patients with Covid-19 were being treated in the state's intensive care units on Wednesday, 122 of whom were invasively ventilated (as of 10:05 a.m.).

According to the Ministry of Social Affairs, 59.1 percent of the patients treated with Covid-19 in intensive care units in Hessen are not or not fully vaccinated against the virus.

According to the ministry, a total of 67.6 percent of the Hessian population are currently fully vaccinated against Sars-CoV-2.

The intensive care bed occupancy and the incidence of hospitalization are important indicators for assessing the current corona situation.

If they exceed certain limit values, further measures apply.

Demand for security personnel for public transport

Although there are new studies that do not see local public transport as the driver of the pandemic, the discussion about the controls of the 3-G rule in trains and buses continues: The Verdi union and the EVG railway and transport union in Hesse are calling for trained security personnel the 3-G controls in local transport. The control and prosecution of passengers could not be taken over by the regular staff, they emphasized in a joint statement on Wednesday. Since November 24, 2021, passengers have only been allowed to use public transport if they have been vaccinated, recovered or tested. Anyone who violates this must pay a fine. When the 3G rule was introduced in local transport, it was not specified who would carry out the controls.

Even the checks of the mask requirement would have led to verbal and physical attacks against the staff, said Andreas Güth, head of the EVG office in Kassel.

The 3G controls would therefore help to expose employees to further violence without being trained for such situations.

Landtag introduces 3G

The Hessian state parliament is also introducing the 3-G rule in the plenary hall.

In addition, from the meeting on December 7th, a mask requirement will apply again, as State Parliament President Boris Rhein (CDU) announced on Wednesday in Wiesbaden.

"As elected representatives of the people, we cannot apply lower standards to our own behavior than to the behavior of citizens, for whom the 3-G rule also applies at work."

According to the new regulation, only those who have been vaccinated, recovered or tested are allowed to enter the plenary hall in Wiesbaden.

To this end, the 137 members of the state parliament are asked to voluntarily provide evidence of their vaccination or convalescence status, explained Rhein.

Anyone who provides this evidence will receive a wristband for the three plenary days in the next week and be allowed to enter the plenary hall.

According to the President, MPs who cannot or do not want to provide such evidence can also show a negative test in order to get into the plenary chamber.

This could either be a rapid antigen test that is not older than 24 hours or a PCR test that is not older than 48 hours.

The tests could be done outside the home, and rapid tests could also be carried out before a plenary session in the state parliament.

If the result is negative, these MPs will also be given a bracelet, explained Rhein.

However, this is only done for the respective test day and therefore in a different color.

The armbands of the MPs should be checked at the entrances to the plenary hall.

“If you can't show a bracelet, you won't get access.” In order not to prevent these MPs from exercising their free mandate, a separate part of the visitors' gallery will be made available to them with their own entrance and exit.