Game against Portugal
Health minister criticizes German fans for mask ignorance
German fans in Munich: Too often without a mask?
© Matthias Balk / DPA
In Munich, football fans celebrate the German team’s victory over Portugal – but often without a prescribed mask. Shortly after the game, the health minister shouted at the fans and warned the DFB.
Around the game of the German national team in the Munich arena, thousands of fans once again ignored the mask requirement in the stands. The Bavarian Health Minister sharply criticized them for this. “I find it negligent that many fans in the football stadium have not obeyed the rules of the game again,” said CSU politician Klaus Holetschek on Saturday evening for the German press agency. “The DFB is now finally asked to plausibly explain how it intends to implement and enforce the mask rules at the next game on Wednesday.” The German Football Association (DFB) is the host of the four European Championship games in the Bavarian capital.
Also in the first group game between the Germans against France on Tuesday, only a few spectators in the Munich arena had the mandatory FFP2 masks on. After criticism, especially from politics, the organizers agreed to encourage the spectators in the stands to wear masks. Obviously with little success, as could be seen on television pictures from the stadium on Saturday. Only a few fans had put masks over their noses and mouths.
Holetschek: Mask requirement that EM games with spectators were even allowed
In the fight against the corona virus, visitors must wear an FFP2 mask the entire time in the Munich stadium. According to a spokesman, the police had already determined during the first game that “the vast majority (around two thirds) of the spectators present on the seats did not wear the prescribed mouth and nose protection.”
The Minister of Health warned: “The highly contagious Delta variant in particular is dangerous. It could cause the recent sharp drop in the number of infections to skyrocket”. At the same time, the mask was a prerequisite for EM games with viewers to be allowed at all. Whether the Bavarian state government will draw conclusions from the violations for the next two games in Munich remained unclear at first.
