Corona measures
Physicians welcome the end of compulsory masks in transport
The mask requirement will soon come to an end – doctors also welcome this. photo
© Hauke-Christian Dittrich/dpa
There was initially a debate about not wearing masks in public spaces from now on, but the decision has now been made. Doctors also support the move.
The intensive care physician Christian Karagiannidis has welcomed the foreseeable end of the mask requirement in public transport with a view to the now robust corona immunity of the population.
At the same time, the President of the German Society for Internal Intensive Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine called for adherence to the mask requirement in hospitals until the end of February in an interview with the “Rheinische Post” (Saturday).
The German medical officers also welcomed the upcoming end of the mask requirement in long-distance transport. “The number of infections is manageable because many people in Germany have been sufficiently vaccinated and/or have recovered,” said Johannes Nießen, chairman of the Federal Association of Physicians in the Public Health Service, the editorial network Germany (RND/Saturday). It therefore makes sense to leave the wearing of masks on trains to the responsibility of the individual, explained Nießen.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) announced on Friday that the mask requirement on long-distance trains and buses would end on February 2nd. In local transport, for which the federal states are responsible, wearing a mask should no longer be compulsory until the beginning of February. Several federal states have already implemented this, and all others are now following suit.
Karagiannidis told the “Rheinische Post”: “I support the end of the mask requirement in long-distance transport because I still think the population’s corona-specific immunity is robust.” He added: “But I would like to maintain the mask requirement in the hospitals until the end of February in order to limit the entry from outside, especially around carnival.” Top representatives of the German Hospital Society (DKG) and the German General Practitioners Association had already welcomed the federal government’s decision to lift the mask requirement on Friday.