With an incidence of 753.8, the Franconian district of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen has the highest number of corona cases in all of Germany on Thursday, according to the RKI – and by far. 2nd place is well below: The district of Diepholz in Lower Saxony has a 7-day incidence of 486.5. inFranken.de asked the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district office what was behind the high numbers.
The district office published data last Thursday to inform the population about an increase in the number of cases. The incidence on this day was located well beyond the 400 mark, namely at 489.9. When asked whether there were larger gatherings of people or festivals that explain this and also the incidence of September 8th, the press spokeswoman for the district office Claudia Wagner said: “There were festivals, yes. Whether there is a connection can be seen just guess.”
“There was a church fair in Weißenburg,” Wagner explained. It took place from August 19 to 28, 2022 – about a week before the increase in incidence. As early as June 2022, the numbers had skyrocketed and even cracked the 1000 mark. Already at that time, private and public events – also indoors – had increasingly taken place. Their connection with the number of cases could only be guessed at.
These speculations from June and September 2022 could not be checked due to the lack of contact tracing. “You cannot understand where the people got infected,” emphasizes Wagner. The Gunzenhäuser Kirchweih is still to come for the district. It will take place from 10th to 18th September 2022 and could also send the numbers skyrocketing.
The federal government is currently debating measures to combat the pandemic in autumn. On Thursday afternoon (September 8th, 2022), the Bundestag is to adopt a legislative package from the traffic light coalition that provides for further rules on masks and tests from October 1st to April 7th, 2023. Although things are heating up in government, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is confident of keeping the pandemic under control.
This article was written by Melina Mark
The original of this post “Shortly after the end of the folk festival, Weißenburg has the highest incidence in Germany” comes from inFranken.de.
