More fines to be issued for ignoring masking rules in Poland

Poland’s health minister, Adam Niedzielski, has warned that masking rules will be more strictly enforced amid rapidly rising numbers of coronavirus cases. Niedzielski today met with police chiefs to discuss what he called a “harsher” approach.

“To date, the main element was telling people [to put a mask on] or giving a warning, but now we are moving to a policy of giving fines,” said Niedzielski.

“We have a good legal basis, because the petty offence code has been amended in this respect, so there is no problem here in terms of legislation and enforcement,” he added, quoted by TVN24.

Article 116 of the code states that anybody who does not abide by prohibitions and orders in regulations aimed at combating infection may be reprimanded or fined.

However, the Polish authorities have had problems enforcing many restrictions during the pandemic due to courts finding them to have been unlawfully introduced. That has resulted in many fines being overturned.

Some have also accused senior officials of setting a bad example. Jarosław Kaczyński, the head of the ruling party, violated rules during a church service earlier this year when he failed to respect distancing requirements and gave a speech without a mask.

While Poland’s most stringent restrictions have been lifted, in theory wearing of masks is still required in all enclosed public spaces, which as well as public transport also include shops, schools and entertainment venues.

Compliance is sporadic, however, and, face masks have been conspicuously absent at some recent high-profile events. Niedzielski says that a change in mentality is needed, after people became more relaxed over the summer, when infections were low.

“Now we have completely different conditions: a different number of infections, and we are in closed spaces,” he said. “I realise that reactions after telling others [to wear a mask] are sometimes unacceptable…but this is how we can take care of our safety.”

Niedzielski warned that the police were stepping up controls and giving more fines. Checks had taken place in some 2,500 buses and trams nationwide the previous day, with 4,000 people being reprimanded and 1,200 receiving fines, he said.

“It’s a case of whether someone has a mask with them,” Mariusz Chrzanowski of Gdańsk police told Trojmiasto.pl, a local news website. “If someone didn’t have a mask at all, they clearly signalled that they wouldn’t put one on. But it is not out of the question that those who ‘forgot to put on’ their mask will also receive fines in the coming days.”

“The increasing rise in infections in the region obliges us to apply a zero tolerance policy,” his colleague Anna Banaszewska-Jaszczyk told the website. “A person not abiding by COVID-19 rules can be punished with a 500 zloty (€108) fine.”

Poland is now suffering a fourth wave of the pandemic, with daily infection numbers doubling from week to week. Today’s figure of 9,387 new cases is the highest figure since April.

While the government has long warned that the autumn will see a rise in infections, Niedzielski recently admitted the current growth has “exceeded all forecasts” and that “the trend is terrifying”. A number of hospitals have reported struggling to cope with the surge in patients.

Only just over half (53%) of Poland’s population are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, compared to a figure of 65% in the European Union as a whole.

Main image credit: Policja Pomorska

Ben Koschalka

Ben Koschalka is a translator and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.