The first victory of the German team at the European Football Championship is properly celebrated - by thousands in public viewings and in the Munich stadium.
Many ignore the corona rules.
Munich (AP) - The chairman of the German Society for Infectious Diseases, Bernd Salzberger, sees the European football championship with concern.
“I understand the urge to go outside and into the beer gardens.
Celebrating outside is certainly better than celebrating in closed rooms, but the enthusiasm also makes droplets and viruses fly, ”said the infectious agent from the Regensburg University Hospital of the German Press Agency.
"In this situation, the EM or any major event is probably not a good idea."
Beer gardens packed
Thousands of fans celebrated the German team's victory against Portugal over the weekend in the stadium, downtown Munich and in many other German cities - and often without masks or distance.
Beer gardens and restaurants were sometimes packed with fans in Germany jerseys watching the game on screens.
From the point of view of the Bavarian Health Minister, the joy of the victory was clouded above all by the ignorance of thousands of fans in the stadium - because, contrary to the express regulations, they did not wear FFP2 masks.
Klaus Holetschek (CSU) criticized this as negligent after top politics had previously criticized the lack of mask motivation of many fans.
"I am looking at the low incidences in almost all of Europe with a certain hope," said Salzberger.
“Still, I'm worried about the full stadiums at the moment.
The situation in Great Britain shows that we are not yet sure even with the current state of vaccination. "
Minimal risk of infection outdoors
The Munich virologist Ulrike Protzer told the German Press Agency: "I think you can be more relaxed in the beer gardens because the overall number of infections is very low and the risk of meeting someone who is infected is low." After all, the risk of infection outdoors is minimal.
To hold the EM, consider them justifiable.
"We have to slowly return to normal," said the director of the Institute for Virology at the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technical University of Munich.
"However, I see a risk for the spread of virus variants, whether the many international guests, if the distance is not kept when screaming or at the entrance and exit, and no masks are worn."
The German Football Association (DFB), as the host of the four European Championship games in Munich, had promised to encourage the audience to wear the masks - but in vain. That's why Holetschek put the DFB under pressure on Saturday evening immediately after the Portugal game and asked the association to plausibly explain how it intends to enforce the mask rules at the next game against Hungary on Wednesday. Something is clearly regulated in the stadium: According to the DFB, only fans who have recovered from Covid disease, have been fully vaccinated against the virus or have recently tested negative are allowed into the arena.
However, you don't have this control beyond the stadium - and at the public viewing, by no means all people adhered to the rules of distance and other anti-corona measures.
Instead, after the goals of the German national soccer team, the fans were in each other's arms and crowded together, as reporters reported.
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Rules for visiting the stadium
National team schedule
