The CSU boss and Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder is pushing for a quick end to the mask requirement in long-distance traffic on Deutsche Bahn. “We find it contradictory that there is a mask requirement on the train but not on the plane – either completely or not at all,” said Söder of the German Press Agency in Munich. “That’s why the clear request goes to the federal government to give up the mask requirement in long-distance transport and to convert it into a voluntary recommendation. Preferably at the beginning of the new year.” In local public transport in Bavaria, masks have no longer been compulsory for passengers since December 10th.
“We have a clear concept in Bavaria. We make appropriate decisions based on the risk situation,” emphasized Söder. “Corona is under control.” Of course there are other illnesses. “But you can’t justify such a far-reaching restriction as the mask requirement because of the flu,” argued the Prime Minister. “We recommend the mask for protection, but there is no longer a government obligation.” In the course of the pandemic, the state government learned that the greatest acceptance of corona measures is when they are consistent and understandable, explained Söder. “The current decision to only stick to the mask requirement in long-distance traffic is inconsistent and hardly understandable. That is why the mask requirement should be eliminated here sooner rather than later.”
The Bavarian cabinet had decided to phase out the obligation to wear masks on buses and trains in local transport on December 10 at the beginning of the month. The reason given back then was that the infection situation was stable, which is why a mask requirement in local transport was no longer appropriate and also not proportionate. Shortly before, the Free State, together with three other federal states, had already decided to end the isolation rules for people with a corona infection. Because the federal states implement and handle corona measures, which are their sovereignty, very differently, there has been a patchwork of very different regulations against the disease in Germany for some time now.