Can you go to the drive-in cinema unvaccinated?

• fromAnnette Schlegl

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The drive-in cinema could be one of the last bastions for unvaccinated people in Hesse where they can participate in public life. Or?

Only those who meet the 2G Plus rule are currently allowed to go to the cinema. But how is it in the drive-in cinema, where everyone is sitting isolated in their vehicles?

The location: the Gravenbruch drive-in cinema, which opened more than 60 years ago as Germany’s first stationary drive-in cinema near Neu-Isenburg. Time: Sunday at 5:30 p.m. The scenario: Long queues of cars form at the four checkouts, families are waiting to be admitted with their whining children. But it takes time, because the employees of the drive-in cinema not only have to check the tickets, but also the vaccination status of each individual visitor and their ID card. The film can therefore only start later.

Why are the visitors of the drive-in cinema so “felted”, as drive-in cinema boss Heiko Desch puts it? Quite simply: Because the Offenbach district has been a corona hotspot since January 11th. There, the 2G regulation applies to events with more than ten people outdoors. The Hessian state government’s website says: “For events (with more than 10 people) as well as in the cultural, sports and leisure sectors (sports field, fitness studio, cinema, theater etc.) as well as for tourist overnight stays, the following applies: indoors 2G-Plus , outside 2G.” So no one is allowed to go to the drive-in cinema without being vaccinated, the visitors have to be vaccinated twice or vaccinated and recovered.

According to the latest Corona regulations, which were adjusted on January 17th, Desch is now even allowed to let 1000 people onto the site. Thanks to Eintracht, he says – after the upper limit was previously 250 people. But that doesn’t help the drive-in cinema visitors, because the queues at the four checkouts aren’t getting any smaller.

Until the beginning of December 2021, there was no distinction between unvaccinated, vaccinated or recovered in the Gravenbruch drive-in cinema. Then came a new Hessian Corona Protection Ordinance, which stated that the 2G rule was to be applied from the 101st visitor.

For two weeks, 2G was checked at the cash registers of the drive-in cinema – with chaotic conditions, huge queues, annoyance and insults. Then the drive-in cinema boss asked the authorities for a special permit and offered to close the snack bar on the square and deliver the food and drinks to the car. However, this was rejected because the Corona Virus Protection Ordinance does not provide for any exceptions. The drive-in cinema therefore limited itself to a general 100 people, who were admitted regardless of their vaccination status. From the 101st visitor, the cars were sent away again.

At the beginning of January, Desch referred to a special permit that the drive-in cinema in Kornwestheim had received from the Ludwigsburg district health department. The vaccination status no longer needs to be checked there. The Offenbach district health department, on the other hand, remained relentless. And so since January 11, the cinema experience for the unvaccinated has been completely passé.

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