Eintracht Frankfurt can play the preparatory game of the newly formed Bundesliga team on Saturday against AS St. Etienne in the Waldstadion (kick-off 3.30 p.m.) in front of up to 10,000 spectators.

The Ministry of Social Affairs announced on Tuesday afternoon that it accepted the corresponding vote of the Frankfurt Health Department;

this is your own responsibility.

Marie Lisa Kehler

Deputy head of the regional section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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Helmut Schwan

Head of the regional section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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It is assumed that the notification of the health department will remain, Eintracht legal adviser Philipp Reschke had previously told the FAZ.

The rule therefore applies that at least half of the viewers must have recovered or have been vaccinated twice;

the others must prove that they are not infectious with a negative test.

Frankfurt's health department head Stefan Majer (Die Grünen), who apparently initially reluctantly wanted to follow the "clarification" from Wiesbaden, announced on Monday evening that there was no reason to change the decision.

Frankfurt and the unity against Hesse

As reported, the Hessian Ministry of Social Affairs, under the leadership of Minister Kai Klose (Die Grünen), spoke out against an audience of 10,000 on Sunday and referred to guidelines between the federal states. At the beginning of July, the heads of the state chancelleries agreed to hold major sports and cultural events with a seven-day incidence of less than 35 allowing up to half of the audience capacity of the venue to be used, but limiting the maximum number of spectators to 25,000 is. Above this incidence value, the limit is 5000 viewers.

According to the reading of the ministry, however, this limit is absolute, that is, those who have recovered and those who have been completely vaccinated are already included.

The Frankfurt Health Office and Eintracht Frankfurt understand the regulation differently, in the sense of how most of the corona restrictions are formulated: Vaccinated and convalescent people do not count.

Autonomous decision

In the message from the Frankfurt health officer, it is said that when 10,000 spectators were approved, the state's regulation was strictly adhered to. This provides that the health department can exceptionally allow a higher number of participants than 1500 and that vaccinated or recovered people are not included in the number of participants. The country's interpretative guidelines are not legally binding. Also because Eintracht Frankfurt has announced that it will have such decisions legally checked, the city needs a reliable basis to withdraw the infectious decision of the health department, Majer continues. The approved number of 10,000 spectators, of which at least 5,000 must be vaccinated or recovered,means only a twenty percent utilization of the stadium, in addition, the visitors were spread over a large area in the open air. Together with the “very good hygiene concept from Eintracht Frankfurt” (among other things, it provides for the viewers to be placed according to the double checkerboard pattern), the decision to allow 10,000 viewers is infectiously justifiable. Majer said that the municipalities urgently needed legal certainty on these issues and "above all clear, understandable guidelines" from the state for this and future approval procedures.Allowing 000 spectators to be infectiously justifiable. Majer said that the municipalities urgently needed legal certainty on these issues and "above all clear, understandable guidelines" from the state for this and future approval procedures.Allowing 000 spectators to be infectiously justifiable. Majer said that the municipalities urgently needed legal certainty on these issues and "above all clear, understandable guidelines" from the state for this and future approval procedures.

The dispute over the number of spectators and the intervention of the country is likely to be followed with tension by the organizers of other major events, such as the Ironman.

A spokeswoman for the city's health department hopes that clarification of the legal situation will result in more planning security for organizers from the sports and cultural sector.

“We have a responsibility to them,” she said.

The corona policy provides decision-making leeway for the independent cities and districts, she added.

"If these are granted, then we also want them to be respected."

Free tests for unvaccinated people?

After the incidence in Frankfurt had dropped below 35 on Tuesday, there would have been no legal recourse anyway. One of the many open questions in connection with the revised Corona regulation is which day is actually decisive, said Eintracht legal advisor Reschke: "The day on which the office decides on the event or the day of the event?" Eintracht Frankfurt is planning, if the decision should be changed at short notice and the number of viewers limited to 5000, inter alia to take action against this with this argument by means of an urgent application before the administrative court.

A second debate is currently causing a stir: the President of the German Medical Association, like several politicians, demanded that unvaccinated corona tests should pay out of their own pocket. Jürgen Graf, Director of the Frankfurt University Hospital, does not believe in the proposal. “Making tests subject to a charge leads to the opposite of what we want.” The number of infections is usually very high, especially in population groups with low incomes. If these people had to pay for tests, fewer would be carried out in total. "We would not gain anything, we would only lose," said Graf, who is also the head of the planning staff for inpatient care at the Hessian Ministry of Health.