According to the German Life Saving Society, the corona pandemic with its restrictions is making more and more people non-swimmers. This increases the risk of drowning, warned DLRG President Achim Haag on Wednesday. The instructors at the pool edge took 23,485 swimming tests last year - the number fell by 75 percent compared to 2019, when 92,913 people were trained to be swimmers. A total of 14,566 seahorse badges were awarded in 2020, which was also over 70 percent fewer than a year earlier.
"The connection with the pandemic is obvious here," stressed Haag with a view to the baths that were closed during the Corona crisis.
"We are now talking about at least one, if not two years lost in swimming training." But even before the pandemic, a quarter of all primary schools were unable to offer swimming lessons because there was no pool available.
According to the information, the lifeguards of the DLRG saved 901 people from death last year, a year earlier it was 950 people.
In 28 missions they would have had to risk their own lives.
The DLRG deployed around 41,000 rescuers.