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Brandenburg Makes Masks Mandatory at All Schools

In Brandenburg province, the summer vacations are almost over. On August 9th, all schools will reopen. The government in Potsdam just made masks compulsory for schoolkids in all grades.

Berlin, July 29th, 2021 (The Berlin Spectator) — Brandenburg just decided to put in place strict Corona rules for the federal state’s schools, which will reopen on August 9th. All school kids, from 1st to 12th grade, will have to wear masks for the first two weeks. This includes day care centers as well. During gym classes, while classrooms are being ventilated and during long exams, the masks may be taken off. From 7th grade to 12th grade, the mask rule will apply after those two weeks as well, until further notice.

Rules for Events Change

According to Brandenburgs Education Minister Britta Ernst, all schoolchildren need to get tested twice a week. Her government is convinced the measures are necessary in order to prevent people from getting infected with Corona by persons who return from tourist destinations abroad. Neighboring Berlin still has to come up with rules for schools. Before the summer vacations, parents of schoolkids were split. Some said the masks needed to vanish, others defended mandatory mask rules.

The Potsdam government is also allowing large events to take place. Now, the maximum number of participants is 1,000, but in can be increased under certain conditions, depending on the venue. Festivals can even sell 7,000 tickets as long as the Seven Day Incidence is below 35. Otherwise the limit is 5,000. Private parties may take place with up to 50 people indoors, or 100 outdoors. As long as people can keep their distance, guests at prayer services do not need to wear masks anymore.

Denier Protest Forbidden

Brandenburg’s Incidence is still low. It stood at 6.2 on Thursday morning, while Berlin’s level was 24.8. Germany’s Incidence is 16.0. The Robert Koch Institute registered 3,520 new Corona infections in the past 24 hours. At the same time, more than half of all Germans are now fully vaccinated against Corona. The rate is 50.2 percent.

The Berlin Police Department just forbade two Corona denier protests which were supposed to take place this coming weekend. One of them was registered by the ‘Querdenker’ movement which has staged lots of big protests since the Corona crisis hit Germany. In Berlin, 30,000 people took part in one of them on August 1st, 2020, exactly a year ago. Since, the Berlin authorities have prohibited several comparable rallies. In some cases, the bans held up in court, in others they did not.

Radical Movement Observed

Several problems are connected to those Corona denier protests. First of all, they have teamed up with right-wing extremists on many occasions. Berlin’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution is observing part of the movement. The next issue is that Corona deniers reject all Corona rules and therefore do not adhere to them.

All relevant Corona numbers for Germany, and daily Corona updates, can be found in our Corona chronology.

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