Friday 23 April 2021
“Hard facts ignored”
Federal emergency brake only makes the sport at a loss
The corona emergency brake decided by the federal government does not offer any real prospects for recreational and popular sports. Again, amateur and popular sports hardly have any choice but to wait and see. DFB and DOSB are therefore in some cases clear criticism.
“Hard facts” were ignored, “difficult-to-understand decisions” were made – overall, there was a lack of “sense of proportion and sensitivity”: the nationwide Corona emergency brake called the top of German sports onto the scene. Because from the point of view of the German Football Association (DFB) and the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), the millions of amateur and amateur athletes come off too badly.
“Anyone who plays football outside does not endanger his health, on the contrary: he strengthens it,” said DFB President Fritz Keller after the amendment to the Infection Protection Act had also passed the Federal Council.
Above an incidence of 100, the opportunities for movement for “normal people” are still severely restricted. However, politicians must “make every decision on the basis of facts,” said Keller: “More and more scientific studies by aerosol researchers and epidemiologists prove the extremely minimal risk of infection in the fresh air and the growing health risks due to lack of exercise.”
Outdoor sports should therefore “finally be made more comprehensive again while adhering to the tried and tested hygiene concepts,” said Keller, speaking of “difficult-to-understand decisions based solely on incidence values”.
Exceptions almost only for competitive sports
DFB Vice President Rainer Koch also misses the “long overdue step in the right direction”, the rules are “the opposite: almost all expert opinions and hard facts have been negated again.”
Exceptions to the emergency brake apply above all – but not exclusively – to professional and competitive sports. Children up to the age of 14 are also allowed to continue practicing non-contact sports outdoors in groups of five. This concession contains the emergency brake, but otherwise the following applies: Sport is only allowed alone, in pairs or with members of your own household.
Sport is not part of the problem, it is “part of the solution to coping with the pandemic,” said DOSB President Alfons Hörmann. The 60-year-old pleads for “a more differentiated assessment of the respective situations and solutions with a sense of proportion and sensitivity”.
After a year of “prescribed immobility, every new form of restriction really hurts. Our 90,000 clubs have been hoping in vain for more normalcy for months. The restrictions put a strain on the body, soul and spirit of children as well as of senior citizens and all age groups in adults Area, “said Hörmann.
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