It is common knowledge that wearing masks can be very unpleasant. However, this is not yet a reason to be exempt from a predominant obligation to wear masks. The Higher Administrative Court of North Rhine-Westphalia in Münster ruled that a medical certificate must be presented that explicitly states the health impairments that can occur in the person concerned.
In school buildings and on school property, the Corona Care Ordinance stipulates that masks must be worn. It may only be neglected at one’s own seat in the classroom and during breaks to take meals. In individual cases, the school management may decide on an exemption from the obligation to wear masks, but only upon presentation of a medical certificate.
The exemption applications of two students from a school in Bocholt were not precise enough and were subsequently rejected. The certificates only stated that wearing the mouth and nose protection was not to be recommended due to the resulting learning and concentration difficulties.
An appeal was filed against the school’s decision, but the Higher Administrative Court rejected it. In the reason it is called, expected health impairments are to be named concretely, in addition the basis of the medical estimate must be recognizable.
Moreover, general impairments would not be serious enough to justify an exemption.
Mental and physical illnesses that have been medically diagnosed are part of the exemption standards.
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