Incidence rises to 1700
Corona outbreak on Sylt: It is now being investigated for fake vaccination passports
Several hotels and restaurants on Sylt have temporarily closed in view of the rapidly increasing corona numbers on the island
© Christian Charisius / DPA
After the festivities around the turn of the year, Sylt is traditionally quiet. This year, however, a little earlier than usual. The reason: Exploding case numbers following a corona outbreak.
“We are on holiday”, “Now the pandemic has unfortunately caught us too. We are closing our restaurant until further notice due to Covid-19.” These and similar signs are currently hanging in various businesses on Sylt. The North Sea island has had a rapidly increasing number of infections for several weeks. As in other places, this is probably due to parties at Christmas.
The corona outbreak following a party under 2G-Plus conditions (recovered or vaccinated plus current corona test) on Christmas Eve in a posh disco in Kampen is now even occupying the police. “I can confirm that because of the reports in the media regarding possible forged vaccination cards, investigations were initiated by the Sylt police,” said a spokesman for the Flensburg police. The investigation was ongoing. According to the information, there was initially no result.
On December 26, there were 27 registered active corona cases among the around 18,000 inhabitants of the island of Sylt. On January 9th – two weeks later – the district of North Friesland reported 476 active corona cases for the island. On Monday there were 477. According to calculations by some local media, the extrapolated, officially not reported seven-day incidence on Sylt is currently over 1700. The official number for the entire district of North Friesland was 697.6 on Monday. The district does not calculate any incidences for individual municipalities. This is not considered sensible, said a district spokesman.
20 Sylt hotels and restaurants temporarily closed
The course of the currently infected on the island is mild, says the managing director of Sylt Marketing, Moritz Luft. The hospital on the island has not yet had to accept any infected people in the Omikron wave. Therefore, the people on the island are careful, there is no hysteria.
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In view of the rising corona numbers on the popular holiday island, several restaurants, cafes and hotels on the island have nevertheless pulled the rip cord and closed their operations for a few weeks – as a precautionary measure or because they also caught the virus. “Due to the numerous coronavirus outbreaks, more than 20 restaurants and hotels in Sylt have temporarily ceased operations or are taking their company holidays ahead of preventive measures in order to protect their employees and guests,” said Luft.
For tourism on Sylt, the spontaneous and early closings mean a reduction in the tourist offer. However, this is not a kind of self-imposed lockdown, says Luft. Indeed, there is still a good selection of cafes and restaurants where vacationers who are on the island at this time of year can warm up following a stroll on the beach. Because of an outbreak, none of the businesses in the Nordfriesland district were officially closed, as a spokesman for the district said.
Mariella Kreis stands in the entrance to the closed Hotel Miramar on the beach promenade in Westerland.
© Christian Charisius / DPA
But why does a company close voluntarily? “We decided to take this step because we noticed that the Omikron wave is getting closer and closer, that two restaurants or catering establishments seem to be closed every day,” says Jens Lund, owner of the café-restaurant of the same name in Hörnum in the south of the Island. He had therefore brought the planned company holidays forward by a few days and extended them following consultation with his employees. “That was the safe option for us before someone becomes infected.” Even if one assumes that Omikron does not lead to severe courses, safety comes first. “We don’t want to carry it into our families either.”
At the end of Friedrichstrasse in Westerland is the traditional luxury hotel Miramar, which has been in the family for generations. In front of the reception, a camera automatically records the temperature of the guests entering. Actually. Because the five-star hotel of the Kreis family has also been closed since January 9th. For fear of the omicron wave. The Miramar actually wanted to take its company holidays in November, as always, and has now brought it forward – “out of caution and to protect our employees,” says Mariella Kreis.
The situation has been a bit tricky since the holidays. “We didn’t have a case and we want to prevent it.” The decision was also well received by the guests, because they are also careful. The guests who would have arrived now would simply have booked as soon as possible. “We survived the holidays well, so that one can now say with a clear conscience that we will take a little break.”
