Corona: Decisions of the Administrative Staff

Courtesy Photo | Icon to accompany courtesy translations of press releases from the city of Wiesbaden.  

GERMANY

01.08.2021

Story by Nadine Bower 

U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden   

Press release of the city of Wiesbaden, 08 JAN 2021
Courtesy Translation: Nadine Bower, Public Affairs Specialist

Corona: Decisions of the Administrative Staff

In view of the new regulations of the state government, which implement the decisions of the Minster President and the Federal Chancellor from Tuesday, 5 January, for Hessen, the Wiesbaden Administrative Staff confirmed its decision on Friday, 8 January, to extend the general decrees "Visitation ban in hospitals for visiting purposes", "Restrictions on visits to old people's and nursing homes" and "Mandatory masks on busy areas" until Sunday, 31 January. The area around the Volkshochschule has now been added to the list of heavily frequented areas where masks are mandatory, since the state government has expressly not closed the schools and since in-person classes are planned for final classes.
In addition, the Administrative Staff has decided to continue the mandatory mask requirement in elementary school education after the break. It is not clear to what extent parents will send their children to the not-closed elementary schools, so the city will continue to require the wearing of masks in case of full classes in order to protect students, teachers and, ultimately, the general population. However, if the required minimum distances can be observed, for example due to the low number of students present in the classrooms, there is no requirement for masks for elementary school students. In addition, as before the Christmas break, there should be regular mask breaks in which the children can take off the masks.

Since the lockdown began on December 16, the City Council had restricted its services even more in order to curb the spread of the virus. At today's meeting of the Management Staff, it was decided that unnecessary services with customer contact should be further reduced until the end of January. "However, it is important that the city administration remains available to its citizens," said Lord Mayor Gert-Uwe Mende and Mayor Dr. Oliver Franz. In this way, urgent matters should continue to be handled with the help of pre-scheduled appointments. "We appeal to citizens to approach the administration staff only with matters that are absolutely necessary," the Lord Mayor said. As a rule, the employees of the city administration are easily reachable by e-mail, even if they do telework. "Our personnel, too, is reduced due to cases of illness and quarantine, employees who have to look after their children during the day or who help out at the health department/vaccination center. It can happen that inquiries are answered with a delay." Mende and Franz ask for understanding.

"We know that these measures continue to be harsh. However, they are necessary to protect people from high-risk groups and to ensure that there are still sufficient treatment capacities in hospitals," said Lord Mayor Gert-Uwe Mende as well as Mayor and Health Department Director Dr. Oliver Franz. "We ask all Wiesbadeners for their understanding and urge them to follow the measures and to wear a mouth-nose cover."

Due to the extended regulations to contain the Corona pandemic until the end of the month, the Cultural Department of the state capital of Wiesbaden has ordered that the already existing closures of the following cultural institutions and event halls of the Cultural Office be extended until 31 January and that neither public traffic nor public events can take place there:
- Kulturforum and concert halls of the WMK at Schillerplatz
- District libraries in Biebrich, Bierstadt, Freudenberg, Mainz-Kastel, Klarenthal, Mainz-Kostheim and Schierstein as well as the “Fahrbibliothek”.
- Exhibition rooms in the Kunsthaus
- Exhibition rooms in the city archives
- City Museum at the Market (SAM)
- Caligari FilmBühne
- Villa Clementine Literary House
Pre-sales for these facilities will also be discontinued. Events offered digitally are not affected. Any in-person events of the Cultural Office in other places will also not be held. Media borrowed from the district libraries or at the Fahrbibliothek are automatically renewed.

The following facilities remain open under the already known restrictions:
- Artothek in the Kunsthaus for the loan and return of works of art by appointment schedule by telephone at [phone];
- Mauritius Mediathek for the lending and return of media as well as for the payment of open costs. The number of visitors is still limited to 35 at a time;
- Reading room of the City Archives by appointment via [e-mail] or by telephone at [phone]. The number of visitors is still limited to six people at a time.
All cultural institutions are happy about virtual visit. For more information on the current situation, please visit the website of the Cultural Office (www.wiesbaden.de/kultur).

ESWE Verkehr announces that from Monday, 11 January, the buses will resume running as scheduled according to the bus schedules published for Monday to Friday on school days. Nightliner traffic remains restricted on weekends. Until further notice, the 12:30 a.m. departure of the night buses from the city center takes place every day. Line N13 runs as scheduled. ESWE Verkehr continues to use all available extended buses, so that passengers can spread out them. Passengers can find up-to-date schedule information at any time in the online schedule information on the website. The app of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) can also be used to view all changes. Passengers can receive personal information on the schedule change at the Mobility Centre and at the two Wiesbaden Mobility Information Points. For further information, please call ESWE Verkehr at [phone] from Monday to Friday between 7 am and 7 pm or call the RMV service telephone [phone] (daily 24 hours).

So far, the state government has not announced the start-up of the vaccination center. However, the city of Wiesbaden expects the vaccination center at the RMCC to open on Tuesday, 19 January, to people with a vaccination date. Starting Tuesday, 12 January, people from the first priority group will be able to register with the state for their personal vaccination appointment. The state government will inform in a letter about details of the appointment. Citizens are asked not to show up at the vaccination center without an appointment. Online, the state government informs about the vaccinations under www.hessen.de/fuer-buerger/corona-in-hessen/fragen-und-antworten-zur-impfkoordination. The city and the fire department are still asking not to use the emergency hotline 112 to call for questions about the coronavirus. The health department can be reached by phone at [phone]; Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and on weekends from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The employees of the Hessen-wide Corona hotline will answer questions about health and
quarantine daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on [phone].

Further questions, concerns and information about the coronavirus will also be answered at [phone] Monday to Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Fridays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Up-to-date information on the topic of Corona is also available at
wiesbaden.de/coronavirus.

Source: https://www.wiesbaden.de/medien/rathausnachrichten/PM_Zielseite.php?showpm=true&pmurl=https://www.wiesbaden.de/guiapplications/newsdesk/publications/Landeshauptstadt_Wiesbaden/141010100000395628.php

• Date Taken: 01.08.2021
• Date Posted: 01.14.2021 04:02
• Story ID: 386917
• Location: DE