Passport of opportunity not only in Lithuania: in the exemplary European country it is even more strict – not vaccinated and not tested causes hysteria

In the Lithuanian social space, many scandalous passports valid in our country can be seen. It seems to some people that only Lithuania has such a strict system of classification and selection of people. Those who get vaccinated do tests – they can do anything, and those who go against the system, refuse to be tested, don’t want vaccines – they can do almost nothing. However, this is not true, a similar procedure is far from valid only in Lithuania. Many countries around the world have their own “passports of opportunity” and checkpoints in public institutions: cafes, bars, markets, etc.

I will not tell you about the whole world this time, but I want to share my impressions from the German capital Berlin, where those who go against the system and do not want to get vaccinated or tested, are left behind in many places. Those who try to cheat, cause hysteria, or even provoke fights are immediately dealt with by police officers. The Germans take it very seriously. And if in Lithuania many waiters forget to ask if the guest has a passport, in Germany they will not even enter the door until they show their paper or QR codes.

Last weekend a large cycling marathon took place in Berlin, attracting hundreds of participants and thousands of spectators. The event is free, public. But as before, no one from the street could not come to see. Everyone who wanted to see the cyclists had to go to a checkpoint and get a red or black paper bracelet, as a sign that he was vaccinated or exhausted. People showed the papers they brought, scanned the certificates on their phones. Some have reversed, such as when one dose of the vaccine is missing or it has been a very short time since the second. And clearly, there were those who were angry, hurling German curses.

There is also no free entry to the popular food market at Markthalle Neun in the Krauzberg district for some time. If you want to eat sausage, crispy Chinese chicken or kebab in a bar with Turkish Ahmet, you need to register at the entrance. Only here, as in many catering establishments in Berlin, a proof or a vaccination certificate alone is not enough. There are even stricter procedures, even stricter controls. Most cafe, restaurant and bar managers require guests to use a special My Luca mobile app. You do not have? Download, register, add all your contact information, activate My Luca to follow every step you take in public places.

Each institution that uses the application has a QR code at the entrance, which must be scanned by all who want to enter. After scanning, the app triggers a clock that accurately counts your time in that office in seconds. It is important to keep in mind on the gadget when you leave the bar or club that you are already changing location and that the time you spend inside no longer counts. All this information is transmitted to those responsible for the establishments, who can regulate the flows in this way, and if it turns out that a person infected with coronavirus was visiting at the same time, it would be easy to identify who could have done it. had contact. You will receive notification of such an incident from the contacts you have specified.

The new contact and flow control app, not everyone likes it. It is particularly annoying for tourists who have come to Berlin temporarily and are often unable to download and activate it for the first time. And until they do, unfortunately, some institutions will not accept it. There are even queues of people standing next to a frequent bar or cafe trying to “make friends” with My Luca or similar apps. It is true that when a restaurant installs some other system, there is even more complication and uncertainty. Although many German institutions did not skimp on finances and hired staff to regulate the flow of visitors.

It is true that we must recognize that working in this job, checking who has been vaccinated, who has been tested and what has not, is not very easy. Berlin is a great city inhabited by people of all races, religions and beliefs. So it’s no wonder that all sorts of rather bizarre situations crop up here more often than in Lithuania.

As Veronika, who works at the Klub Kitchen restaurant, explained to me, almost every day there are aggressive people causing conflict and attacking employees because of the new order. “Not everyone understands that we didn’t come up with this test ourselves, so we read sermons about how bad we are at classifying people,” says Veronica. Often times, people who refuse to get vaccinated and register try to force the restaurant into a food establishment, but in this case the waiters are not served by waitresses. If they do not agree to leave the restaurant voluntarily, the police are called.

Even more conflicts arise in institutions that work at night. In bars and clubs, the unvaccinated have repeatedly sparked confrontations with guards or even fights. He could see with his own eyes how four aggressive-looking guys had caused real hysteria and vowed revenge on the waiter at a cafe he hadn’t entered.

Barns are also unavoidable for those who are vaccinated. According to current German regulations, anyone who enters bars and restaurants without a mask can only be sitting at the table, eating or drinking. In all other cases, when going to a smoking room, bathroom or any other place, a mask should be worn on the face. Unfortunately, not everyone obeys this requirement and staff try to catch violators, threaten the disobedient with fines, or even ask them out. This is because the bars themselves fear receiving a huge fine from the authorities who inspect them. And the fines to the Germans are high. To avoid any inconvenience, many bars within Berlin have banned photography and filming to prevent the customer from accidentally spreading on social media without a mask.

Information for Lithuanians traveling to Germany: the European Union certificates attesting to the vaccines received are perfect in this country, you can download them via esveikata.lt. The results of coronavirus tests conducted in Lithuanian clinics are also excellent. However, employees check all the dates on such documents very carefully.