display
Gradual return from lockdown, but still a long way to normality: After months of stagnation, there are first opportunities for German amateur and popular sports to relax in the corona pandemic.
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the Prime Ministers of the federal states agreed on this, as can be seen from their decision paper.
Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) spoke of “real improvements” also for sport in the press conference after the deliberations.
In a step-by-step plan, various steps for openings are planned from Monday onwards - visits to fitness studios and amateur football or indoor sports, for example, are not yet possible immediately.
Relaxation of the ban on spectators in the Bundesliga and other professional sports are not mentioned in the decision.
Depending on regional incidence values, the federal states can therefore provide for non-contact outdoor sports in small groups with a maximum of ten people as the first measure from March 8th.
This applies if a stable seven-day incidence of less than 50 new corona infections per 100,000 inhabitants is achieved in a country or region.
Tennis on outdoor courts could soon be possible again in some places
Source: Getty Images / Thomas Barwick
display
If the incidence is stable or falling below 100, at least “individual sports alone or in pairs and outdoor sports in groups of up to 20 children up to 14 years of age” can be made possible.
The individual federal states are responsible for the concrete implementation of the resolutions.
At best from April 5th: contact sports in the hall
Only in a further step can there be contact-free indoor or outdoor contact sports again after 14 days and therefore no earlier than March 22nd with a stable incidence below 50.
If the incidence then rises back into the range between 50 and 100, this is possible if all participants have a negative, daily corona rapid test on the same day.
In this way, for example, amateur football in the open air or a visit to a fitness studio could be made possible again.
In the resolution, non-contact sport and contact sport are not defined in more detail.
After a further two weeks - in the best case from April 5th - contact sports in the hall would also be conceivable again, depending on the incidence.
Fitness studios can reopen from March 22nd - subject to the corona situation
Source: Getty Images / Secret Annex Productions
display
An emergency brake is built into the step-by-step opening strategy: If individual loosenings lead to a sharp increase in the number of infections in a region, the alleviations made there are canceled again.
Before the decisions were made, Alfons Hörmann, President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation, once again expressed the hope of "the urgently missing return to club sport".
"In the implementation of the next steps, the main thing now is to give federal states, regions and municipalities as much room for maneuver as possible so that as much health-promoting exercise as possible can be permitted there responsibly and flexibly."
For months, the lockdown athlete had slowed down in the hobby and performance area.
Since the beginning of November it is no longer allowed to play, not even to train.
The German Olympic Sports Confederation had on Tuesday in an open letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) expressed the desire for a perspective for club-based sport.
It is "high time" for that.
On Monday, the German Football Association addressed a letter to the Chancellery and Federal Minister.
Overview: steps for the sport
display
According to the decision, the possible openings for sport are divided into various steps.
An overview:
Third opening step
from March 8th
(sport is not taken into account in the first two):
- With a stable or falling seven-day incidence of less than 100, the respective country can allow individual sports with a maximum of 5 people from 2 households - for example tennis - and outdoor sports in groups of up to 20 children up to 14 years of age.
- If a stable seven-day incidence of less than 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants is achieved in a country, then non-contact sports can be made possible in small groups of a maximum of 10 people outdoors.
Fourth opening step -
from March
22nd
at the
earliest
:
- If the seven-day incidence in the region or country is stable below 50 for 14 days after the previous opening step, the country may allow contactless indoor and outdoor contact sports.
- If, on the other hand, the seven-day incidence two weeks after the previous opening step is between 50 and 100, non-contact sport indoors and contact sport outdoors can only be made possible if all participants have a negative corona rapid test on the same day.
display
Fifth opening step -
from April 5th at the
earliest
:
- If the seven-day incidence in the region or country is stable below 50 for 14 days after the previous opening step, the country may resume indoor contact sports.
Handball clubs still have to be patient, but have the theoretical prospect of being able to train again from March 5th
Source: Getty Images / Tom Werner
- If, on the other hand, the incidence is between 50 and 100 14 days after the previous opening step, indoor contact sports are not possible.
Only contact-free sports indoors and contact sports outdoors are then permitted - but without the requirement of a test.
161 districts in Germany currently have an incidence of 50 or less.
That came from data from the Robert Koch Institute from Wednesday morning.
Due to the spread of contagious variants, experts do not assume that the incidence will fall across the board in the near future.