Status: 10/28/2022 6:47 p.m
Since October 1st, residents of nursing homes and workshops for people with disabilities have had to wear an FFP2 mask, despite sharp criticism of it. Resistance is forming in the Bundesrat, and two countries have now abolished the rule.
In a statement, the Bundesrat spoke out in favor of the federal government repealing the FFP2 mask requirement for residents of care facilities and in facilities for people with disabilities. It has been in effect since October. Another change to the Infection Protection Act is necessary.
This stipulates that all people who are in hospitals and rehabilitation clinics as well as nursing and disabled facilities wear an FFP2 mask at all times. One of the few exceptions is when a patient or resident is in their own room – in common rooms, on the other hand, masks are compulsory. It also affects people with disabilities who work in a workshop.
Baden-Württemberg and Hesse are leading the way
Baden-Württemberg now overturned the rule on its own. Health Minister Manne Lucha from the Greens said that the facilities had been informed by letter that, like the facilities for the disabled, they could now decide for themselves whether they wanted to stick to the mask requirement in common rooms.
According to Lucha, these are private rooms in which “individual life development and social contacts” take place. Home residents should not be disadvantaged compared to other people.
In Hesse, too, residents of care facilities in common rooms do not have to wear a mask, as the Ministry of Social Affairs announced. Reference was made to the protection of the home enshrined in the Basic Law. Rooms used jointly by the residents are to be exempted from the mask requirement because they are intended for permanent residence due to the special features of accommodation in a vulnerable facility.
Lower Saxony had spoken out in favor of easing shortly after the new infection protection rules in the Bundesrat came into force.
Sharp criticism of the mask requirement
The federal working group of senior citizens’ organizations (Bagso) also criticizes a “significant cut” in the quality of life of those in need of care. The German Foundation for Patient Protection has joined this. She pointed out that the mask requirement was not consistently enforced by a majority of the 12,000 nursing homes. The traffic light government should not stick to the “absurd” rule. Instead, it would be “humane” to combine daily rapid tests for employees with PCR tests twice a week. “In this way, the virus can be stopped efficiently before it reaches the elderly,” said board member Eugen Brysch.
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach and representatives of the care industry and health insurance companies had defended the rules. The SPD politician warned of the high risk of corona infection in the common rooms of the facilities. “Then if one is infected and has a high viral load, it’s very bad news for the entire facility.”
The Robert Koch Institute reported in mid-October that as part of the general increase in new corona infections, there were also more outbreaks in old people’s and nursing homes. This trend continues, as can be seen from the current RKI weekly report emerges.