Most Corona rules are passé in large parts of Germany. In many places, for example, shopping without a mask is possible. But according to a survey, many citizens want to continue wearing the protection voluntarily.
More than two years after the start of the corona pandemic, most everyday government restrictions have ended in large parts of Germany. Despite the continued high number of infections, the new nationwide legal framework has only provided for a few general protective measures since Sunday.
In almost all federal states, it is still possible to wear masks, for example in surgeries, nursing homes, clinics, buses and trains, as well as tests in schools, for example. Masks are still mandatory nationwide on long-distance trains and planes. Regardless of state rules, companies, shops and other facilities can continue to maintain specifications such as mask requirements.
Criticism from the countries
The traffic light coalition had pushed through the extensive end of the measures to contain the corona against protests from the federal states, among others. The federal government justifies this by saying that there is no nationwide overload of the health system and that in an emergency stricter rules can be issued regionally.
According to the amended Infection Protection Act, numerous conditions expired on Sunday night, which millions of people had been used to for months – including access only for vaccinated, recovered and tested (3G) or for vaccinated and recovered (2G). General mask requirements when shopping or in schools are now mostly over.
Further requirements initially only apply in Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. For the time being, the two countries are the only ones to use the so-called hotspot rule of the Infection Protection Act. It enables further specifications if the state parliament determines a regionally critical situation for the clinics. The other federal states are not making use of this for the time being and complained that the legal criteria in federal law were too uncertain. It is initially valid until September 23, then a follow-up regulation could follow in the fall.
The key points at a glance
“Basic protection”: The countries can still order in general…
- Obligations to wear FFP2 masks or medical masks in facilities for people at risk, such as clinics, nursing homes and practices, as well as in community facilities, for example for asylum seekers.
- Masks are compulsory in local public transport with buses and trains.
- Obligatory testing in facilities for people at risk, such as clinics and nursing homes, as well as in schools and day-care centers.
“Hotspots”: In addition, the federal states can impose restrictions – but only if the state parliament determines “the concrete risk of a dynamically spreading infection situation” in a “specifically named regional authority”. This can include a municipality, a region or ultimately an entire country. Possible are…
- Obligations to wear FFP2 masks or medical masks in other areas – including schools.
- Distance requirements of 1.50 meters in public space, especially in publicly accessible interiors.
- Access rules with proof only for vaccinated and recovered (2G) or for vaccinated, recovered and tested (3G).
- the obligation to create hygiene concepts.
Thresholds from when a region is a hotspot are not quantified in the law. The general prerequisite is either that a dangerous virus variant is circulating there – or that there is a risk of overloading the clinic capacities due to a particularly high number of cases.
People open to wearing masks voluntarily
So this weekend there are Sundays open for sale with different conditions: in Hamburg with a mask requirement, in North Rhine-Westphalia without again for the first time. According to an Insa survey, 63 percent of citizens in Germany want to voluntarily continue to wear mouth and nose protection when shopping after the mask requirement has ended.
However, 29 percent of respondents stated that they did not want to do this. Eight percent of those questioned did not want to commit themselves to “Bild am Sonntag” in a representative survey by the opinion research institute Insa.
Source: Stern
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