Status: 06.12.2022 2:42 p.m
After the health ministers could not agree on a course for the Corona regulations, individual federal states are now submitting. In Saxony-Anhalt and Bavaria, masks are no longer compulsory in local transport. In the federal government, the echo is divided.
Saxony-Anhalt and Bavaria are abolishing the mask requirement in local public transport. From Thursday, people in Saxony-Anhalt can travel by bus and train without masks – in Bavaria from Saturday. The cabinets of the two federal states justified their decisions with a stable infection situation.
While Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach criticized the advance of the federal states, Christian Lindner welcomed the elimination of the masks.
Holetschek: Mask requirement “no longer proportionate”
The two federal states decided to go it alone after the health ministers were unable to agree on a common course for corona protection measures at a meeting.
Bavaria’s Minister of Health, Klaus Holetschek, said that the corona virus no longer made up the majority of viral diseases – influenza and RS virus had a much higher proportion of the sick in hospitals. In this respect, a mask requirement for Covid protection is no longer proportionate. The state government continues to make a recommendation to wear masks.
Regarding the corona situation, Prime Minister Markus Söder wrote on Twitter: “The infection situation has been stable for a long time.”
Saxony-Anhalt will also be making the wearing of masks in local public transport voluntary in the future. The obligation should fall here on December 8th, as has become known from government circles. The country is thus relying on more personal responsibility.
Schleswig-Holstein wants to decide next week on ending the mask requirement on buses and trains. Prime Minister Daniel Günther had already announced three weeks ago that the mask requirement, which was limited until the end of the year, would not be extended.
North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Saarland and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania will initially continue to adhere to the mask requirement, as the state governments made clear today.
Lauterbach criticized the decision
Federal Health Minister Lauterbach is critical of the end of the mask requirement in local transport. “I’m just not convinced of that,” said the SPD politician, referring to the pandemic situation. At the conference of health ministers, he and the President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, once again made it clear that there were no reasons to say now that masks and the isolation of corona infected people could be dispensed with. Lauterbach referred to a more contagious virus variant to be expected, as well as other RS viruses and a wave of flu.
FDP leader Lindner positioned himself differently. The Federal Minister of Finance wrote on Twitter that it was a “right decision” that Bavaria was once again relying more on personal responsibility for the corona protection measures.
The Association of Transport Companies (VDV) welcomes the end of the mask requirement on buses and trains. “There is no evidence from abroad, where masks have not been compulsory on buses and trains for months, nor from scientific studies known to us that the number of infections increases exceptionally when masks are no longer worn in public transport,” said spokesman Lars Wagner.
In addition, it is becoming increasingly difficult to actually enforce the mask requirement. Wagner pointed to problems for the staff when different rules apply to local transport connections across federal state borders.
EVG: Masks should also be compulsory in long-distance transport
The head of the railway and transport union (EVG), Martin Burkert, spoke out in favor of waiving the mask requirement on long-distance trains. “No one can understand why masks are still compulsory on long-distance trains,” said Burkert. “If the regulation is retained, checks by the federal police, not by the railway staff, are needed.”
While the federal states can decide for themselves whether a mask is compulsory in local transport, the federal government is responsible for long-distance transport. According to the current Federal Infection Protection Act, masks are compulsory there until April 2023.