就在德国计划放宽COVID-19的社交距离限制的前几天，一家肉类加工厂爆发了严重的病毒，导致一个州推迟放松这些指导方针。
社会距离限制将于5月11日在全国大部分地区解除，但不是在北莱茵-威斯特伐利亚州(NRW)。在科斯菲尔德市，200名员工周四接受了冠状病毒检测，其中151人检测呈阳性。
德国有一个放松限制的“应急机制”，当一个地区或城市每10万人中有50个新病例时，就会触发这一机制。科斯菲尔德阳性检测使其每100，000名居民中新增61例病例，这导致该州将其限制放宽期至少推迟了一周。
2020年5月5日，德国柏林，在新型冠状病毒危机期间，戴着防护面罩的购物者在凯德威百货商店全面重新开张的第一天等待进入。德国正在全国范围内小心翼翼地解除封锁措施，试图提高经济活动。
NRW卫生部长卡尔·约瑟夫·劳曼说，151名冠状病毒检测呈阳性的工厂员工中，大多数来自罗马尼亚和保加利亚，他们住在一起很近，这可能导致了大规模的疫情爆发。他说，13名工人已经住院，其余被送往隔离，症状轻微。
劳曼说，这个特殊的工厂已经关闭，等待进一步通知，该州的其他工厂将接受测试。
尽管突发疫情引发了“紧急刹车”，但所有学校和日托设施将被允许在5月11日重新开放。
在NRW鲁尔区欧尔肯施维克镇的另一家工厂，接受检测的1250名员工中，有33名员工的COVID-19呈阳性。
劳曼在DW.com说，NRW有35家屠宰场，雇佣了17000到20000名员工，所有的屠宰场都将接受测试报告。
本周早些时候，在位于塞格伯格区的巴德布拉姆斯特的一家工厂，109名员工也检测出病毒呈阳性。就像在科斯菲尔德的情况一样，员工们住在狭小的房间里，共享住房。
报告称，赛格伯格还将推迟放松社会距离限制。
石勒苏益格-荷尔斯泰因州的卫生官员呼吁对该州所有屠宰场的工人进行检测。
冠状病毒于2019年末在中国武汉首次被发现，然后迅速在全球传播。现在全球有超过400万阳性病例和275，000例死亡。德国已有超过17万例病例，7500人死亡。
美国在阳性检测(130万)和死亡(78，500)方面领先于所有国家。许多州已经开始放宽社会距离准则，允许许多被称为“非必要”的企业向公众重新开放，包括发廊和健身房。
GERMANY, ON CUSP OF REOPENING, SCRAMBLES TO CONTAIN FRESH CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAKS
Just days before Germany planned to ease social distancing restrictions for COVID-19, a severe outbreak of the virus at a meat processing plant has led one state to delay loosening those guidelines.
Social distancing restrictions are to be lifted on May 11 for most parts of the country, but not in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). In the city of Coesfeld, 200 employees were tested for coronavirus on Thursday, and 151 of them tested positive.
Germany has an "emergency mechanism" in loosening restrictions, which is triggered when there are 50 new cases per 100,000 people in a district or city. The Coesfeld positive tests made it 61 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, which led the state to delaying its restriction easement by at least one week.
Shoppers wearing protective face masks wait to enter the KaDeWe department store on the first day KaDeWe fully reopened during the novel coronavirus crisis on May 05, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. Germany is carefully lifting lockdown measures nationwide in an attempt to raise economic activity.
NRW Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann said most of the 151 plant employees who tested positive for coronavirus are from Romania and Bulgaria who shared close quarters together, which likely led to the massive outbreak. He said 13 workers have been hospitalized while the rest have been sent to isolate with mild symptoms.
This particular plant has shut down until further notice, and others in the state will be tested, Laumann said.
Despite the "emergency brake" triggered by the sudden outbreak, all schools and day care facilities will be allowed to reopen on May 11.
At another plant in NRW, in the town of Oer-Erkenschwick in the Ruhr region, 33 workers came out positive for COVID-19 out of 1,250 employees who were tested.
There are 35 slaughterhouses in NRW that employ between 17,000-20,000 employees, and all will be tested, Laumann said in a DW.com report.
Earlier in the week at a plant in Bad Bramstedt, which is in the district of Segeberg, 109 employees also tested positive for the virus. As was the case in Coesfeld, the employees lived in tight quarters and shared housing.
Segeberg will also delay the easing of social distancing restrictions, the report stated.
Health officials in the Schleswig-Holstein state have called for all slaughterhouse workers in their state to be tested.
The coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, China in late 2019 and then quickly spread around the globe. There have now been more than 4 million positive cases and 275,000 deaths around the globe. There have been more than 170,000 cases in Germany, with 7,500 deaths.
The United States leads all countries in positive tests (1.3 million) and deaths (78,500). Many states have begin easing social distancing guidelines, allowing many businesses called "non-essential" to reopen for the public, including hair salons and gyms.
