With infection rates coming down by and by in Germany, lockdowns and restrictions are eased piece-wise, and I must admit I start losing orientation on what rules apply to whom and where and when. You see, there are some rules set by the federal government, most by individual states (Länder), but then rules are different from city and district to city and district - in part triggered by thresholds, in part by local discretion.
So, for the long Pentecost weekend, I reserved a hotel room in Cologne, as state rules now say that hotel visits are open for private/tourist purposes, not only business, and I want to meet someone in the evening. BUT I got an email the next day saying my visit must be business related and I must show proof (gonna call them in a bit to see whether that was an automated mail based on outdated info) - and my acquaintance informed me that curfew is different there from what it is here, a mere 50 km / 30 miles away as the crow flies, same state. I am confused as to whether it makes sense at all to visit Cologne.
I am vaccinated, so some restrictions no longer apply to me at all, some are deemed equivalent to having a fresh negative test result ... and I lose track of which rule applies to me and which doesn't.
So for practical purposes, I no longer need to get tested - except at my work place, which has different rules due to its nature. We test one another there, twice a week. It's still not clear if anyone can create, stamp and sign a certificate of negative test result and have it officially be accepted elsewhere.
But I can also get tested for free in publicly available places, one of them being a hotel in town that is burdened by the lockdown, and I actually do get tested there from time to time instead of at work, a) to save my company time and money, b) to provide the hotel a bit of revenue (the hotel owner and chef does the testing himself, he's a friend of mine, and does this to generate a bit of income).
