No entry without a mask – despite a certificate: More and more Dresdeners have Corona problems

In Dresden, many retailers do not allow customers to enter their shops without a mask. Even if they have a valid certificate. A lawyer explains.

Dresden – Even at the beginning of the corona pandemic, there were cases where retailers did not grant access to customers with valid mask exemptions.

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Most of them later apologized for this and accepted the exception provisions.

But now more and more companies are refusing access to customers without a mask, even if they have a certificate. Exceptions are not even made for the severely disabled.

Madeleine D. (34) wanted to buy a winter jacket for her son (7) in the NKD textile shop in the Prohlis Center. The severely disabled, whose illness also leads to a lack of air, entered the shop without a mask and showed a saleswoman her ID.

“She didn’t accept that. The employee said I had to leave the shop without a mask, and made use of the house rules,” says the mother. “I had to go without goods.” The company did not respond to a TAG24 request.

It is more common now that retailers insist on the mask requirement and no longer accept certificates and IDs.

The clothing store Zara in the Centrum Galerie and McDonald’s also turned away disabled customers.

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“The health and safety of our customers and employees is our top priority,” says Zara, explaining the general mask requirement.

McDonald’s also cites “the greatest possible protection” as a reason to avoid conflicts with other guests.

The Ministry of Social Affairs is powerless. A spokeswoman said that companies are always appealing to accept medical certificates and ID cards for the severely handicapped as evidence of exemption and to allow customers access.

The rejected Madeleine D. filed a complaint with the police for discrimination. But that won’t do much good.

According to attorney Gerhard Rahn (47), the expulsions should be legitimate if the companies want to ward off dangers.

The measures were not directed specifically against the disabled, but against all customers without a mask. Rahn’s advice for those affected: “Go to the competition.”

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