Debate on abolition: the end of the mask requirement in long-distance transport is uncertain

When should the mask requirement end in long-distance transport? Very soon, in addition to Federal Transport Minister Wissing, the Chairman of the Health Ministers’ Conference Lucha is now also demanding. But Federal Minister of Health Lauterbach hesitates.

The debate about the date for ending the mask requirement in long-distance transport is picking up speed. The new chairman of the conference of health ministers, Baden-Württemberg’s head of department Manfred Lucha, has called for the nationwide lifting of the mask requirement in long-distance public transport from February. The aim should be as uniform rules as possible.

“If the mask requirement in local transport now falls, it should also fall in long-distance traffic at the same time,” said the Green politician to the newspapers of the Funke media group. However, he was in favor of maintaining the mask requirement in medical facilities. Vulnerable groups still need special protection.

“Staff Burden”

The coalition partner FDP reiterated the demands for an earlier end to the obligation in long-distance transport. In the ARD program “Maischberger”, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing also advocated ending the mask requirement in long-distance transport “as soon as possible”. “It’s also a burden for the staff to control,” he said.

FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr told the Funke newspapers: “We have always said that measures must be understandable, because that is the only way they will be accepted. But with the mask requirement, nobody can understand why you are on the ICE have to wear a mask to Munich, but not on the local subway.”

Current rule applies until April 7th

The managing director of the Allianz Pro Schiene interest group, Dirk Flege, made a similar statement. “By February 2nd at the latest, when two other federal states, Berlin and Brandenburg, lift the mask requirement in local transport, it should also be phased out in long-distance transport,” he said. It cannot be explained to people why they would have to continue to wear a mask on long-distance trains if the obligation in air transport and in most federal states had been abolished.

According to the applicable Infection Protection Act, FFP2 masks are still mandatory in long-distance buses and trains until April 7th. The federal government could change this by regulation. The federal states can decide for themselves whether masks are compulsory in local transport.

Lauterbach: Currently “still too early”

More and more countries overturned them recently. Bavaria, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein have already abolished them. Berlin, Brandenburg, Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Baden-Württemberg and Saxony want to lift them by the beginning of next month at the latest.

Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach had recently not ruled out a premature end to the mask requirement in long-distance transport and in health facilities. “It may well be that we will abolish the mask requirement earlier,” the SPD politician told the magazine “Stern”. But he didn’t want to set a date. At the moment it is “still too early”, according to Lauterbach.