In some federal states, such as NRW, the mask requirement in local public transport continues to apply.
(Photo: IMAGO/Future Image)
One federal state after the other is tipping the mask requirement in local public transport. Berlin, Brandenburg, Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony have announced that they will be lifted by the beginning of next month at the latest. Bavaria, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein had already abolished them in December.
This means that there will soon no longer be an obligation to wear a mask in half of all federal states – which increases the pressure on Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach to follow suit at Deutsche Bahn. Lauterbach has now signaled a possible change for the first time. “It may well be that we will abolish the mask requirement earlier,” says the SPD politician to the “Stern”.
At the same time, Lauterbach emphasized that he did not want to commit to a date. It is currently “too early”, added the Minister of Health. “We still have full clinics and staff failures.”
FDP is urging Lauterbach to issue a regulation
According to the applicable Infection Protection Act, FFP2 masks are still mandatory in long-distance traffic until April 7th. The federal government could change this with a simple ordinance. The FDP is pushing for this. “We should now make use of this opportunity,” Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) demanded in a letter to Lauterbach at the end of December.
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Lauterbach now commented on the letter. “Mr Buschmann probably didn’t reach me by phone and then wrote me a letter. And apparently it accidentally became public,” said the Minister of Health. He “did not reply to Buschmann in writing”. He and the ministerial colleague talk to each other a lot.
>> Read here: Virologist Drosten considers the pandemic to be over – Minister of Justice calls for the end of the corona measures
In its demand, the FDP points out that in neighboring European countries, masks are no longer compulsory in long-distance transport. It has also already been abolished for aircraft in Germany.
>> Read here: The citizens have learned to live with Corona – only Lauterbach not
In Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt, the mask requirement in local transport was canceled on December 10th and 8th, respectively, Schleswig-Holstein followed on January 1st. In Saxony, January 16 is the day. After the two Union-governed countries, countries with SPD heads of government have now also decided to abolish it. Berlin, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania will follow on February 2nd. In Thuringia, the mask requirement will be lifted on February 3rd.
Some virologists had warned against the step in December. However, there is no effect, at least for the incidences: Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt currently have low incidences in a comparison of the federal states. The number of reported new infections has not increased since the mask requirement was lifted, but has fallen.
Timo Ulrichs, epidemiologist at the Chair for Global Health and Development Cooperation at the Akkon University in Berlin, believes it is possible in principle to slowly withdraw the measures.
“But it would be good if we could wait until the end of winter and the cold season,” Ulrichs told the Handelsblatt. “In addition to the corona viruses, other infectious agents also circulate in large numbers, and wearing a mask reduces their transmission overall.”
In 2023, however, the end of the pandemic will be reached, at least in Europe. The prospects are good that there will be no further wave of pandemics in the coming autumn and winter.
More: Billion dollar vaccine surplus: the federal government wants to cancel agreed deliveries