Nighttime curfew met with mixed acceptance
The new federal Infection Protection Act, which is intended to combat the coronavirus, stipulates a curfew between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.. It will apply regionally from a 7-day incidence of 100. As the results of the 34th edition of the BfR-Corona-Monitor, a regular survey conducted by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), show, 60 percent of the respondents consider the measure inappropriate. "It is interesting that the opinion differs considerably between the age groups," says BfR-President Professor Dr. Dr. Andreas Hensel. "While 57 percent of the respondents aged 60 and over support the measure, only about one fifth of those under 40 do so."
The fact that certain stores are closed also does not meet with the approval of around 60 percent of the respondents. On the other hand, there is a high level of willingness to take measures for personal protection. The number of people who had themselves tested for the coronavirus in the last two weeks has increased again compared to the previous survey. In the current survey, 59 percent said they had made use of test offers – 10 percentage points more than in mid-April and almost 20 percentage points more than at the end of March.
Respondents continue to inform themselves about current events relating to the coronavirus primarily via television (61 percent), radio (50 percent) and personal contacts (43 percent) on a daily basis. Print media are used daily by 32 percent of the population. In the 60+ age group, the proportion of those using print media is well above average at 66 percent, and well below at 6 percent for those under 40. The situation differs for social media, which at 41 percent are used mostly by the younger age group, while only 9 percent of older people say they use social media for information on a daily basis.
The BfR has published FAQs on the topic of coronavirus:
About the BfR-Corona-Monitor
The BfR-Corona-Monitor is a recurring (multi-wave) representative survey on the risk perception of the population in Germany towards the novel coronavirus. Every week between 24 March and 26 May 2020, around 500 randomly selected people were asked by telephone about their assessment of the risk of infection and their protective measures, among other things. Since June 2020, the survey is continued every two weeks with about 1,000 respondents each. A summary of the data is regularly published on the homepage of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. More information about the method and sample can be found in publications about the BfR-Corona-Monitor.
About the BfR
The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) is a scientifically independent institution within the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) in Germany. It advises the German federal government and German federal states ("Laender") on questions of food, chemical and product safety. The BfR conducts its own research on topics that are closely linked to its assessment tasks.
This text version is a translation of the original German text which is the only legally binding version.