The mask requirement in local public transport is now also to be abolished in Berlin, Brandenburg, Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony. In Saxony the time has come on January 16th. Berlin, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania will follow on February 2nd, Thuringia a day later on February 3rd. The state governments announced this on Tuesday.
These are the first federal states not run by the Union in which the obligation to wear a mask on buses and trains is being lifted. In Thuringia and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, there is also no corona isolation requirement. In three federal states, the mask is no longer mandatory in local public transport: in Bavaria, Saxony-Anhalt and also in Schleswig-Holstein since New Year’s Day.
“Thuringia has again been the federal state with the lowest seven-day incidence for a few days. The number of hospitalizations and the situation in the intensive care units has been stable in the low range for weeks,” explained Health Minister Heike Werner (left). On Tuesday, the seven-day incidence in Thuringia was 74.3 – nationwide the value was 136.6. According to the information, the obligation to isolate should also be dropped at the same time.
In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, this is to be canceled about four weeks after the end of the mask requirement in local transport. An exact date was not set in the cabinet meeting because coordination with other federal states was still ongoing, said a spokesman for Health Minister Stefanie Drese (SPD). The mask requirement in medical practices and hospitals therefore continues to apply. This is regulated by the federal government. The Federal Infection Protection Act initially applies until April 7th.
According to Health Minister Petra Köpping (SPD), the cabinet in Saxony also agreed to end the obligation to wear masks on buses and trains, but the obligation to isolate remains. In Berlin, the Senate, in consultation with Brandenburg, decided to bring the end of the mask requirement forward – and not to keep it until at least mid-February.