Figure 1.

Timeline of German governmental response to emerging incidences during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The time bar indicates the first day of the months from August 2020 to January 2021. ‘Ongoing’ denotes approaches implemented during the first wave in spring 2020 and valid ever since, such as mask requirements or regulations on travel and gatherings. Since 2 November 2020, a modified test strategy deploys testing capacities efficiently by considering only symptomatic patients with a high risk of having been exposed to the virus. During winter, test resources were highly challenged otherwise due to the coinciding periods of the flu and common cold. From 4 November 2020, a partial shutdown mainly determined the closure of venues for leisure time activities, such as restaurants and museums, but also of personal hygienics like hairdressing salons. An extended shutdown beginning on 16 December 2020 extended the measures by the closure of schools and retail shops.