Status: 01/13/2023 09:27 am
In view of the current number of corona infections, there is intensive discussion about a quick end to the mask requirement on Deutsche Bahn long-distance trains. The works councils of the group are now demanding this as well.
For days there has been discussion about an early end to the mask requirement in long-distance transport – especially on long-distance trains operated by Deutsche Bahn. The works councils of the railways are now also demanding such an end on February 1st. “Soon you will only be forced to wear a mask on the ICE. That’s simply not possible,” said the head of the general works council of DB Fernverkehr, Manfred Scholze, the editorial network Germany (RND). The ICE has better air conditioning, ventilation and filtering than other forms of public transport. “This division must finally end.”
The general works council chairman of DB Regio Schiene/Bus, Ralf Damde, told the RND that it could no longer be “that you have to follow other laws when changing from one train to another”. For the employees in particular, it was an “absolute impertinence” to enforce the mask requirement. Damde called for a “federal political power word so that from February 1st the mask requirement will fall nationwide”. Anyone who voluntarily wants to continue to protect themselves with a mask can do so.
Bushman for the end of the mask requirement in rail traffic
In accordance with the Infection Protection Act, a mask requirement applies nationwide until April 7th on long-distance trains. The federal states are responsible for the regulations in local transport, some of which have already abolished the mask requirement or announced this step.
And so the voices for the abolition of the mask requirement in long-distance traffic on Deutsche Bahn are getting louder and louder. Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann spoke out in favor of lifting the obligation early at the end of the month. “In my opinion, other protective measures can also be lifted before April 7,” said Buschmann of the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “If, for example, two social-democrat-led state governments lift the mask requirement in public transport at the beginning of February, an SPD-led federal government should also lift the mask requirement in long-distance rail transport on this date,” says the FDP politician.
The development is currently so positive “that even cautious scientists see us in the endemic stage”. Interventions in the fundamental rights of citizens must always be the exception and must be well justified.
Mask requirement as a recommendation?
The FDP health politician Andrew Ullmann also considers an end to the mask and isolation requirements to be appropriate in view of the current corona situation. “We are well immunized,” said the member of the Bundestag joint morning magazine from ARD and ZDF. An endemic situation has been reached in Europe, even if the pandemic is not yet over worldwide. In view of the current number of infections and the situation in German hospitals, the legal situation is no longer proportionate. The doctor from Würzburg therefore advocated converting the mask requirement into a recommendation.
Drosten: A “good social idea”
The chief virologist at the Berlin Charité, Christian Drosten, believes that wearing masks in the current phase of the corona pandemic is no longer as effective as it used to be. “The mask will no longer be that efficient,” said Drosten in the Podcast “Coronavirus Update” of NDR. Since the masks are only worn on a few occasions, they hardly play a role in controlling the overall transmission of the corona virus.
Nevertheless, Drosten did not advocate lifting the mask requirement on trains. This is still useful to protect the so-called vulnerable groups. People in this group, who are particularly at risk from illnesses caused by the corona virus, would be better protected if not only they but also their counterparts wore a mask. It is therefore a “good social thought” to maintain the mask requirement on trains, according to Drosten.