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First the city of Munich, now also the districts of Ebersberg and Unterallgäu: contrary to the requirements of the Bavarian state government, the municipalities have removed the requirement for masks in primary schools, after only two days. “Primary school children are not drivers of the infection,” Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) said in support of the statement. Soon after, Ebersberg District Administrator Robert Niedergesäß (CSU) and his Unterallgäu colleague Alex Eder (free voters) joined in this decision and argument.
In Bavaria, the crown traffic light has only been in effect since the weekend, which provides for stricter protection measures based on certain incidence values. In the updated Bavarian Ordinance for protection measures against infections, it is stated that from an incidence of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days, there is “a mask requirement even in schools of all grades”. Only on Monday Söder called for a comparable mandatory regulation for all of Germany. Because the mask is the most effective way to prevent infection in schools and daycare centers, along with ventilation.
Primary students: Munich rushes forward
The mayor of Munich, Reiter, justified his decision with figures: “The incidence of infections is very low in primary school classes, they only represent 5 percent of the 83 school classes currently closed.” In this context, he decided to remove the mask requirement to keep restrictions for younger students by wearing masks as low as possible.
Although the mask requirement is specified in the Free State regulation, “however, a different regulation is possible in justified individual cases,” argued Reiter. Munich is now making use of this. The state capital has had an incidence value greater than 70 for days, and the trend is increasing.
Other municipalities follow suit
Munich’s decision apparently sent a signal to other municipalities. Soon after, the Ebersberg district announced that the district manager Niedergesäß would join with immediate effect. “Rarely has the district administrator received so much critical feedback in such a short time that it is well founded on the matter,” he said. Niedergesäß emphasized: “Even in the Ebersberg district, primary school students are not the cause of the infection, but are particularly affected by the mask requirement.”
He also referred to an “opening clause” in the new regulation. So far it has not been clear whether this clause is also “applicable to one of the core elements of state government regulations,” according to the district. “The district administrator is very relieved that this is now possible and that the children can be saved at this time.”
The Unterallgäu district administrator, Eder, had initially tried officially with the Swabian government and the Bavarian Ministry of Health to remove the mask requirement, and was rejected. “My attempt today to obtain an exemption for classroom masks with a fixed class group, sadly failed,” he wrote on Facebook. Then he learned that Munich had simply decided. “The arguments are the same as mine.” That is why you just wrote to the educational authority that until legal clarification, at least in elementary schools in Unterallgäu, the following exception should be applied again: “The mouth and nose cover can be removed if only the group of fixed class is together “.
The ministry is silent at the moment, what does Söder say?
The Bavarian Health Ministry initially did not want to comment on the three municipalities going alone in the morning when BR asked. Now it can be eagerly awaited if Prime Minister Söder will comment in his government statement today that several municipalities are deviating from state government requirements.
When making their decision, the municipalities refer to a formulation of the Ordinance on protection measures against infections. Consequently, the responsible district administrative authority may order exceptions to the classroom mask requirement “if new infections can be traced back to a clearly delimitable outbreak.” This does not apply to Munich, but follows a phrase in the regulation that opens the back door: “You can also allow exceptions in well-founded individual cases, as long as this is justifiable from the point of view of the protection against infection law.”
Praise from the Bavarian opposition and Aiwanger
In any case, it is not clear at the moment what sanctions the Bavarian state government has against municipalities that do not adhere to the given rules. There is nothing about this in the regulation of infection control measures. And the “Corona-Pandemic” catalog of fines deals exclusively with administrative and criminal offenses of people, organizers and businessmen.
The leader of the Bavarian FDP parliamentary group, Martin Hagen, described the municipalities’ decision on Twitter as “sensible”. Max Deisenhofer, a member of the Green Party, also spoke of a “correct” step. Green Bundestag Member Dieter Janecek praised the fact that the mask requirement in elementary schools continues to drop: “Why is the state government then deciding such unrealistic nonsense?”
Deputy Prime Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) also supports the exemption of mandatory masks for primary school students in class, which the Bavarian cabinet had decided last week. There is no evidence that elementary school students contribute to the spread of Corona, he told BR. Protection measures would have to be targeted, then they would also be accepted.
