Status: 08.12.2022 11:42 a.m
In Saxony-Anhalt, the mask requirement in public transport is no longer the first federal state, Bavaria will follow on Tuesday. However, there is no uniform line among the countries. The Prime Ministers want to discuss the topic again today.
Saxony-Anhalt is the first federal state in which the mask requirement in local public transport, which was ordered due to the corona pandemic, will no longer apply from today. The cabinet in Magdeburg made the decision on Tuesday. In long-distance traffic, however, the FFP2 mask remains mandatory. It must therefore continue to be carried – also in Saxony-Anhalt – in IC trains and in the ICE, based on the nationwide Infection Protection Act, which will remain in force until April 7th of the coming year.
Parallel to the cabinet in Saxony-Anhalt, the Bavarian state government also decided on Tuesday to end the mask requirement in public transport. In the Free State, the mask requirement should be eliminated from Saturday.
Countries argue with a stable infection situation
Both state governments justified their decision with a persistently stable infection situation. Saxony-Anhalt’s Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff cited the high vaccination rate in his own state: 74 percent of the population were basic immunized. In people who are older than 60 years, it is even 90 percent. In addition, the proportion of corona infected people in hospitals is currently less than three percent. Other clinical pictures and viruses are clearly more dominant.
Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek had argued similarly. The corona virus no longer accounts for the majority of viral diseases that occur. The infections with influenza or RS viruses (respiratory syncytial viruses) accounted for a much higher proportion of the sick in hospitals. In this respect, a mask requirement to protect against the corona virus is no longer proportionate.
Other countries want to keep the measure
So far, there is no common line among the federal states regarding the obligation to wear a mask. However, several states such as North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Saarland and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have already announced that they intend to continue to make masks compulsory in local public transport for the time being.
Schleswig-Holstein wants to make a decision next week. Prime Minister Daniel Günther had already announced that he did not want to extend the mask requirement, which was limited until the end of the year.
Lauterbach and Wieler continue to wear masks
Both Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach and the head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, had spoken out against ending the mask requirement. At the moment, neither of them sees any reason to refrain from taking this measure – especially since it could also offer protection in view of the spread of flu and RS viruses.
For two weeks now, the RKI has been warning of a nationwide increase in respiratory diseases, which are primarily due to infections with influenza and RS viruses. The institute recently reported a decrease in the number of corona cases. This morning, the nationwide seven-day incidence was reported as 214.2. It was 207.7 on Wednesday, 201.9 a week ago and 282.9 a month ago. The health authorities recently reported 40,256 new infections (previous week: 36,115) and 125 deaths (previous week: 152) to the RKI within one day.
However, experts have been assuming for some time that there will be a large number of cases not recorded by the RKI – mainly because not all infected people have a PCR test done. In addition, late registrations and transmission problems can lead to a distortion of individual daily values.