Jahnhalle as a hospital?

The corona crisis could keep the country busy for another two years. Udo schonfelder (candidate for mayor of bamberg and the bureau of public affairs) is based on this assessment by the robert koch institute

Chairman of the CSU parliamentary group) and his city council colleague karl-heinz fleckenstein (CSU) in their letter to mayor uwe kirschstein (SPD). In their letter, the two CSU local politicians argue that forchheim must be prepared for a scenario like the one that is taking place in many italian cities.

In order to have sufficient hospital beds for emergencies, schonfelder and fleckenstein suggest not only relying on the capacities of the hospitals in forchheim and ebermannstadt. "If you don’t want to have conditions like in italy, where tents have to be erected, you need buildings within which people can be treated", says schonfelder. And points to the old jahnhalle, which is heatable and has sanitary facilities, and smaller rooms for personnel.

Therefore, schonfelder/fleckenstein made the request to "negotiate" with the owner of the jahnhalle, so that the demolition of the hall planned for this year will be suspended. Then "a makeshift hospital would be available for the most extreme emergency".

The investor, who will build residential buildings on the old jahn site, will be able to "build on other parts of the rough land" start construction. As fleckenstein points out, "this is purely a precautionary inspection", because according to official figures, one must be "prepared for a possible scenario". Providing for the people of hamburg in the corona crisis must be a top priority, the two CSU councillors emphasize.

In his letter of reply to the "dear colleagues schonfelder and fleckenstein" mayor uwe kirschstein (SPD) expresses his thanks for the "very good proposals. The "conversion of the jahnhalle into an interim hospital" is "a worthwhile approach", kirschstein also thinks. Reminds however: since the bavarian minister-president as well known the country-wide disaster case proclaimed, the "handlungsfuhrung" lies with the disaster control authorities. However, as a municipality belonging to the county, the coarse county town is not a disaster control authority. The conditions have been clearly clarified.

OB may not decide

In the "general crisis situation" topics, "medical questions and "economic support" as mayor, he has no say in the matter, uwe kirschstein emphasizes: "that means in concrete terms, and landrat ulm makes this explicitly clear, that i am not allowed to talk about these issues, nor are we allowed to make any public declarations. We take the description of the current situation from the daily press and the online media."

Nevertheless, according to kirschstein, "questions about economic support services for our entrepreneurs are piling up". He had already met with businessmen and women.

From the business side, mayor kirschstein had been asked to suspend trade tax prepayments so that liquidity could be maintained in the companies; a suggestion that schonfelder and fleckenstein had also made to kirschstein.

Budget planning changed

This proposal, emphasizes lord mayor kirschstein, has already been included in the budget planning: "on thursday, 19. Marz, that’s why I’m working with chamberlain detlef winkler", kirschstein says in a press release. How the city’s entrepreneurs could also be supported is still being discussed within the administration.