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 after a corona outbreak.
Westerland – “We’re on holiday”, “Now the pandemic has unfortunately caught us too. Due to Covid-19 we are closing our restaurant until further notice ”.
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 Christmas parties.
The corona outbreak after 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 due to the reports in the media about possible forged vaccination cards, investigations were initiated by the Sylt Criminal Police,” says a spokesman for the Flensburg police. The investigation was ongoing. According to the information, there was initially no result.
Rapidly increased corona numbers
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.
The extrapolated, officially not reported seven-day incidence on Sylt is currently over 1700 according to calculations by some local media. 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.
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.
Some businesses are closing as a precaution
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 corona outbreaks, more than 20 restaurants and hotels in Sylt have temporarily ceased operations or are taking their company holidays ahead of them as a preventive measure 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 after 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.
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 it seems that two restaurants or catering establishments are 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 after consultation with his employees. “For us, that was the safer option before someone becomes infected.” Even if one assumes that Omikron does not lead to severe courses, safety is the top priority. “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 house 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 cautious.
The guests who would have arrived now would simply have booked as soon as possible. “We survived the holidays well, so that you can now say with a clear conscience that we will take a little break.” Dpa
