Bundesliga given green light to continue amid lockdown in Germany
Borussia Dortmund will be able to continue their Bundesliga campaign over the coming month, while Germany goes into a full lockdown to stem COVID-19 spread.
The Government and Health Ministers in Germany have decided to go back into a full lockdown as of Wednesday this week in order to stem the surging COVID-19 numbers. This is an aggressive lockdown closing all non-essential shops, schools and services until at least January 10th, 2021 as they deal with another wave of Coronavirus cases. Not only will non-essentials be closed but they have reduced family gatherings over the holidays from 10 people to 5 in a further attempt to stop any potential spread.
While the country heads into a hard lockdown, Germany’s Health Minister, Jens Spahn, has declared the Bundesliga and other professional sports leagues will continue in the meantime. While it may be counter-intuitive with COVID-19 cases back on the rise, Spahn was very measured in his reasoning. With a lot of access to rapid testing, the amount required to keep the Bundesliga running is relatively low and not causing any shortages of tests in more essential services. The availability of testing along with the public not attending games have minimized the risk for serious spread coming from continued play.
On top of that Spahn also believes with the seriousness of the situation it is important to have outlets outside of the pandemic for people to focus on. The Bundesliga does exactly that, providing a weekly source of much needed entertainment in a time that is lacking. This is great news for Borussia Dortmund fans as it would have been unfortunate to have another extended pause after missing so much time last season.