In contrast with Austria, where non-essential stores and other public indoor services have been forced to shut down completely at least until Dec. 13, or with the U.K., where people must now wear masks in all the stores, non-essential stores as well as cinemas, theaters and restaurants in Germany will only be accessible to people who have been vaccinated against Covid or who have recovered from the disease, starting on Saturday, Dec. 4. Furthermore, football games will have to be held without spectators.
The new regulations, which were approved by federal and state authorities on Thursday, Dec. 2, are in effect a nationwide extension of the so-called 2G rule that has already been imposed in some states of the country, regardless of the local rate of infection.
Ahead of the governmental decision, the German Retail Federation (HDE) had declared such a measure against the unvaccinated as discriminatory and unconstitutional. Representatives of the retail trade have criticized it because it will prevent many customers from doing their Christmas shopping at physical stores and because it will be costly and potentially unpleasant for the retailers and the shopping centers to check the shoppers’ health passes.
The German parliament may go one step further by make anti-Covid vaccination mandatory like in Austria, where the obligation will be enforced from Feb. 1. The outgoing German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said that she would vote for a mandatory vaccination if she were a member of parliament. She said that discussions are underway at the level of the European Union to ensure that the second vaccination loses its validity after nine months.
In France, where the health pass or a 24-hour PCR test are required in restaurants and theaters, but not in the stores, the maximum duration has been stretched from six to seven months, but the government is recommending a booster shot after five months.
In Austria, the labor unions have reportedly obtained permission to leave their stores open on the Sunday before Christmas if they have been forced to shut down because of the Covid pandemic, with their personnel earning double wages and an extra day of vacations
