Rules for wearing masks and organising mass events will change

Rules for wearing masks and organising mass events will slightly change in September.

The Public Health Authority (ÚVZ) has issued new measures that will come into force on September 1 and 2 in order to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

Wearing masks

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Starting on September 2 at 6:00 and ending on September 14 at 18:00, i.e. the first two weeks of school, schoolchildren in the fifth to ninth grades of primary schools and all secondary school students will be required to wear masks in classrooms.

In addition, all schoolchildren will have to wear masks outside their classrooms in the school interiors.

There will be some exceptions:

• pupils of the first to fourth grades in school interiors during the educational process (but it is recommended that they wear the masks if they want to);
• pupils with moderate or severe mental disorder, deaf and hard of hearing.

The ÚVZ has cancelled the following mask-wearing exceptions:

• teachers and professional staff (like teaching assistants or special teachers) during the educational process;
• schoolchildren in primary and secondary schools within the educational process;
• people suffering from some respiratory problems and facial skin problems that may worsen while wearing a mask (because it has often been abused).

Other mask-wearing exceptions that remain in place:

• children younger than three years of age;
• people with severe autism spectrum disorders;
• public transport drivers sitting in an enclosed space, separate from the rest of the vehicle;
• pupils taking entrance exams, commission exams, language exams, professional competence examinations for a profession and at the end of education and training;
• people taking state language exams;
• children in kindergartens and day nurseries;
• people doing sports;
• people who are models for photographers;
• brides and grooms at a wedding;
• children doing first communion;
• performers in audio-visual piece or the production of a programme and giving a performance;
• people in wellness centres and swimming pools;
• members of recovery events for children and youth including staff;
• people at a workplace if there is at least a 2-metre distance between them and employees alone at their workplace.

Mass events

To contain the coronavirus pandemic, ÚVZ is banning mass sports, cultural and social events for more than 1,000 people in exteriors and more than 500 people in interiors from September 1.

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There will be an exception for those events whose participants will have a negative COVID-19 test not older than 12 hours.

The ban does not apply to masses, first communions, confirmation, funerals and weddings. It also does not apply to meetings and sessions of state bodies, municipal authorities and sessions summoned by the law.

Employers and employees

Employers will be obliged from September 1 to check whether their staff underwent a mandatory 10-day quarantine concluding with a negative COVID-19 test after returning from a risky country, or demand a confirmation of crossing the Slovak border older than 10 days.

If they do not show this confirmation, employers cannot let employees enter their premises and have to report them to the respective regional ÚVZ office.

Read more about the coronavirus outbreak in Slovakia:

• These are the measures currently in place in Slovakia
• How Slovakia prepared for the coronavirus
• Do I have the coronavirus? How to proceed if you have a suspicion
• More information about what the coronavirus is and how to protect yourself from the infection (WHO)
• Situation update on EU/EEA and the UK as of March 6 morning
• Q&A: State of emergency declared about coronavirus+