Corona outbreak at Tönnies: NRW decides on lockdown
Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.
More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.After the Corona outbreak at the meat processor Tönnies, the NRW government is pulling the emergency brake. In Gütersloh and also in the neighboring district of Warendorf, public life is being massively shut down.
In public spaces, residents are only allowed to move around with people from their own household or in pairs for a week.
In addition, museums, cinemas, fitness studios, indoor swimming pools and bars will be closed, as NRW Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) announced on Tuesday. The Warendorf district will also close all schools and daycare centers from Thursday - they are already closed in Gütersloh.
Mass outbreak in the meat factory
The reason for the step is the corona mass outbreak at the meat processor Tönnies. At the slaughterhouse of the market leader in the Westphalian town of Rheda-Wiedenbrück in the Gütersloh district, more than 1,550 employees were verifiably infected with the corona virus. Many of them live in the neighboring district of Warendorf - that's why an important threshold for new infections was exceeded there on Tuesday.
A few hours earlier, North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) announced that the restrictions for the Warendorf district would "not apply across the board", but only apply to places that border the Gütersloh district. Warendorf's district administrator Olaf Gericke (CDU) had also emphasized that morning that a lockdown in the circle was not necessary.
Lockdown is initially valid for one week
The lockdown is initially valid for one week. By June 30, the state government expects clarity as to the extent to which the virus may have spread to people who do not work at Tönnies.
Laumann asked the affected residents of the districts for their understanding. "Without the measures, the burden would be many times higher in the end - in the districts of Gütersloh and Warendorf, in the neighboring districts and cities as well as in other parts of our country," he said. (cf / dpa)
