Health – Berlin – Mask requirement in primary schools falls despite high incidence – Bavaria
Munich (dpa / lby) – Despite persistently high incidences, the mask requirement in Bavaria’s primary and special schools will fall on Monday. Minister of Education Michael Piazolo (Free Voters) justified the decision after the cabinet decision with the fact that there are PCR pool tests at primary schools and in the future also in the 5th and 6th grades. In addition, wearing a mask puts a particular strain on the little ones. In schools as well as in day-care centers, the compulsory test remains. A week later, the mask requirement should also fall in the 5th and 6th grades.
The easing comes even though at the end of last week around every 20th student in the Free State missed classroom instruction due to Corona. According to the Ministry of Education, as of Friday, 3.52 percent of the students were missing because of a positive test and another 1.59 percent because of quarantine. A week earlier, every 22nd student was affected.
The corona incidence in Bavaria had meanwhile fallen again on Sunday for the first time since the middle of the week. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported a value of 2133.5 for the Free State – a minus of around 42 compared to the previous day (2175.3). The seven-day incidence – the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within one week – was still well above the value from Sunday of the previous week (1938.7).
The incidence had risen almost every day in the past few days and had reached new highs, only falling slightly on Wednesday. Nevertheless, a number of corona rules were relaxed in Bavaria on Saturday: Among other things, there are no upper capacity and person limits for events as well as the ban on dancing and music in the catering trade.
Nationwide, the incidence on Sunday was 1708.7. According to the RKI, Bavaria had the fourth highest incidence behind Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (2490), Saarland (2277.3) and Saxony (2232.9).
The health authorities in the Free State report 30,619 new infections to the RKI within one day. The number of deaths in Bavaria in connection with a corona infection rose by 6 to 22,088. At the district level, the Lower Franconian district of Haßberge recorded the highest value in Bavaria with 3290.4, followed by the district of Cham with a seven-day incidence of 3214.
Experts assume a high number of cases that are not recorded in the RKI data. One reason is the limited capacity of health authorities, for example, and contacts are often only tracked to a limited extent.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220320-99-597339/5