From A for curfew to Z for certificate News

Even if the corona virus lives on, at least in Hamburg, which is so strict, the end of the rules restricting everyday life has been reached. On February 1st, the last bastion falls with the obligation to wear a mask on buses and trains. Since the first case of illness almost three years ago, a lot of terms have emerged, some of which will quickly be forgotten - and others you might remember for the rest of your life.

Curfew: It is probably the sharpest sword in a free society that the Hamburg Senate draws on Good Friday 2021 in the fight against the corona virus. After 9:00 p.m. and until 5:00 a.m. the following day, residents of Hamburg are only allowed to go outside “with good reason” – these exceptions also include doing sport alone. In particular, nocturnal private gatherings should be avoided. This phase will be over in mid-May 2021.

Delivery services: The catering trade in particular quickly suffers from closures and restrictions – from which delivery services in turn benefit massively. There is now hardly a restaurant in Hamburg that does not offer this service, often through a service provider.

Corona costs: In the three years of the pandemic, the state of Hamburg spent a total of 2.02 billion euros to deal with the consequences of the corona pandemic, of which around 160 million euros flowed into cultural funding. In the first two years, tax prepayment reductions of 4.9 billion euros will be granted.

Drive-In: Early on there was a demand to offer corona tests as simply and with as little contact as possible. In February 2021, the drugstore chain Budnikowsky will open the first drive-in test center in Hamburg. Those affected are tested directly in the car on the company premises in Wandsbek. Many other offers follow, for example at Hagenbeck Zoo.

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Containment Ordinance: The measures must be formulated and bundled as legally watertight as possible - for this purpose the Hamburg Senate is developing the instrument of the Containment Ordinance. Adjustments are made at different rhythms. On January 13, 2023, the 80th Containment Ordinance will be passed, it should be the last and expire on January 31.

Freedom: Hamburg residents, like people around the world, are confronted with massive restrictions on their freedom rights. The neighboring country to the north is developing a special variant: on March 18, 2020, Schleswig-Holstein will close its borders to tourists. This leads to strange situations for many Hamburgers, because they are also not allowed to "enter" the neighboring country, which merges directly into the Hanseatic city in several places. A few days later, it was also decided that all second home owners were no longer allowed to go to Schleswig-Holstein.

Grote, Andy: Hamburg's Interior Senator Andy Grote (SPD) is so happy about his reappointment after the 2020 state elections that he hosts a reception in a club in Hafencity - and thus, as the fine office later determines, against the violates the Corona rules initiated by him. He ignores demands for his resignation, pays a fine of 1000 euros and speaks of a "stupid mistake" - which many still do not forgive him to this day.

Hotspot regulation: When the signs in many federal states are already pointing to relaxation, Hamburg tightens the reins again and uses the rather vaguely worded hotspot regulation at the end of March 2022 in order to react to a “dynamic infection process”. In this way, the mask requirement indoors and in retail can be maintained for the following four weeks.

Vaccination center: The large Hamburg vaccination center is being built in the Hamburg exhibition halls, and the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians will take over the operation. After the vaccines can be delivered in winter 2021, long queues form here, making appointments becomes a game of patience, which drives many older people in particular to despair. In the meantime, only doctors in private practice vaccinate, and the vaccination rate in Hamburg is one of the highest in Germany.

Jogging: It’s no longer possible to just start running in spring 2021, at least not on the Alster and Elbe. If you want to do sports here on the weekends, you have to wear a mask at certain times. It's still possible to do without in the morning exercise.

Children: Whether in daycare or school - the little ones experience this society in a state of emergency the most. Homeschooling, hardly ever meeting friends, stressed parents and alternating lessons or the obligation to wear masks all mean that many children and young people fall behind in their development. In spring 2020, parents have to explain to their small children why all the playgrounds are suddenly "broken". The counties are required to tape down all facilities, a measure later found to be excessive. Instead of a playground, there is now walking for children and parents. Forests are not only well visited on the weekends.

Lockdown: Ski vacationers bring the virus to the Hanseatic city - and so the first lockdown begins with the announcement on March 13, 2020 that schools will remain closed after the end of the ski holidays. Emergency care is only available for children of parents in systemically relevant professions. Major events and church services are prohibited, cultural institutions, leisure, sports and entertainment facilities are closed. From April it will be relaxed, but pupils will not start face-to-face classes again until after the summer holidays. In November 2020, the second corona wave will be followed by the next "partial lockdown". It ends in May 2021.

Mask requirement: Indoors, in offices, on the way to the restaurant toilet - simply everywhere where it can get tight, the mask requirement applies. This is the case for the longest in buses and trains of the HVV, here the masks are allowed to fall from February 1st.

Tracking: Especially at the beginning, a lot of time is invested in tracking all encounters of individual infected - in the hope of being able to contain the spread. Bundeswehr soldiers are deployed several times in the overburdened health authorities. 2000 men and women will be on the phone for 14 months between the summer of 2020 and 2021 as part of the Corona administrative assistance, in December 2021 they will help again. When it became clear that combating the virus would not succeed in this way, this attempt came to an end.

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Option model: A Hamburg invention! From August 28, 2021, the 2G option model, which is initially unique in Germany, will apply to clubs, bars, restaurants, cultural institutions and events. According to the 50th Hamburg Corona Containment Ordinance, services may only be offered to vaccinated and recovered people, in return there are no corona protection requirements. According to the Senate, a new lockdown should be avoided for everyone.

Plus: Another idea from Hamburg. From December 4, 2021, the tightened 2G-Plus rules will apply in Hamburg clubs: only those who have been vaccinated or who have recovered can come in and must also present a current negative corona test. Unvaccinated people are only allowed to shop in shops for daily needs, other shops have to check the 2G rules. Shortly thereafter, only those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered are allowed to attend lectures at the university.

Lateral thinker: In Hamburg, the scene is not as big and as militant as in other cities, but here, too, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution warns again and again that the demonstrations that take place regularly on Saturdays are undermined and sometimes dominated by anti-constitutional groups.

Travel returnees: On the evening of February 27, 2020, the first suspected case of corona was confirmed in Hamburg. It is a traveler returning from Italy, where Corona is already a bigger problem than in Hamburg at this time. The pediatrician from the UKE was apparently infected in Trentino. In mid-March 2020, the number of people infected with corona skyrocketed. Many of those affected return fresh from their skiing holiday. On March 11, Health Senator Cornelia Prüfer-Storcks appealed to the Robert Koch Institute to include the ski region in the list of so-called risk areas.

Statistics: If you want to have a say, you not only need to know the statistics on the progress of the pandemic, but also their interpretations. And they vary depending on party affiliation, attitude or goal. Hamburg also keeps its own statistics, which deviate from those of the Robert Koch Institute and are said to be more up-to-date. The saddest number: 3489 people have died in Hamburg in the past three years in connection with a Covid 19 disease.

Tschentscher, Peter: Hamburg's Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) is also becoming a nationwide face of the pandemic. As a laboratory doctor, he has the necessary expertise, and as a country representative, he is the focus of crisis meetings with the Federal Chancellery. Tschentscher, together with Hamburg's health senator Melanie Leonhard (SPD), is driving a cautious course all the time. Criticism was raised when there were inaccuracies in the figures relating to the vaccination status of the Hamburg population in autumn 2021.

UKE: Virologists working at the university clinic, such as Marylyn Addo or the head of intensive care, Stefan Kluge, are in demand nationwide. In the initial phase, the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf has to survive a scandal when there are several corona deaths in oncology. But the UKE is way ahead in vaccine research.

No-Dwelling Zone: One of those words you couldn't have thought of before the pandemic. In some places, sitting on benches is not allowed, and the police also prohibit picnics in the park. A special variety is the “corners”: in the Schanze or in winter around mulled wine stands (where alcohol is quickly no longer allowed to be served) people meet with drinks to take away. But that too is forbidden.

Christmas: The festival symbolizes the development of the Corona phases. In 2020 the Christmas markets will be canceled and only “nuclear families” will be allowed to celebrate under the Christmas tree. A year later it will be public – there are markets with admission controls – and private for vaccinated people, in 2022 there will be no more restrictions.

Xenophobia: The fear of strangers gets a new reading. Hamburgers with Asian roots, whether Chinese or not, are experiencing racist attacks because people wrongly fear that Asians are particularly likely to spread the virus. Several Hamburg institutions are joining the "I'm not a virus" network to help those affected.

YouTube: Fitness clubs and sports clubs will no longer be able to offer their normal range of services on their premises for many months, instead they are developing new digital forms, mostly played out via the Internet video platform YouTube. And at least in the ambitious early days, the yoga mat in the living room is used a lot.

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Certificate: Take the vaccination certificate to the pharmacy, and if everything is running smoothly then, the vaccination certificate will appear in the app - and will become the key in restaurants, sometimes for work and at the airport. There are also opponents of the Z – they criticize what they see as the two-tier society that has emerged. There are still many legal proceedings against certificate forgers in Hamburg.