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BERLIN — In what is a first in Germany, the city state of Hamburg will allow restaurants, hairdressers, clubs and religious institutions to bar entry to unvaccinated adults or those who have not built up immunity through a Covid infection. The businesses can then forego strict limits on indoor seating, dancing and mandatory minimum distancing requirements.
Masks, when not eating, will remain obligatory.
Currently people can show documentation of a recent negative Covid test and be allowed into these spaces. But starting this weekend, Hamburg vendors can sign up for the voluntary programs that bar unvaccinated people.
“It’s totally voluntary. Everyone can decide whether they go ahead or not,” said Daniel Schaefer, a spokesman for the city.
Many business are expected to take a wait-and-see approach, as it is not clear yet whether losing a younger, unvaccinated clientele outweighs the larger capacity the rules will allow. The rules affect places where people eat or gather. Most stores in Germany where people merely shop, but do not stay or sit down, do not require proof of immunity or a test.
Currently about 65 percent of people living in Germany and 62 percent of people living in the city are fully vaccinated.
While these new freedoms for the vaccinated are being mandated in Hamburg and discussed in other German state capitals, infections among the unvaccinated have been surging. According to a New York Times database, there has been a 186 percent change over the last two weeks.
On Wednesday, the German Parliament, or Bundestag, voted to extend by three months a state of emergency allowing the federal and state governments to implement specific rules to curb infections.
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