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Corona: Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt abolish the obligation to wear masks in public transport

Corona: Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt abolish the obligation to wear masks in public transport

In Bavaria, the mask requirement will no longer apply from December 10th – in Saxony-Anhalt it should be two days earlier.

Saxony-Anhalt will abolish the mask requirement in local public transport on December 8th. The cabinet agreed on this on Tuesday, according to government circles. Saxony-Anhalt is thus relying on more personal responsibility for protection against corona infections. The country is thus relying on more personal responsibility. The previous Corona Containment Ordinance is scheduled to expire on December 7th. Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) and other cabinet members want to explain the details of the decision on Tuesday afternoon in Magdeburg.

In Bavaria, the mask requirement in local public transport will be abolished on December 10th. This is no longer appropriate due to the current stable infection situation, according to information from government circles. From December 10th there should only be one recommendation to wear the masks. This makes Bavaria the first federal state in which the obligation falls. The health ministers of the federal and state governments did not find a uniform course for the obligation to wear masks on buses and trains on Monday.

The proposal for abolition in Bavaria is said to have come from Health Minister Klaus Holetschek and is based on an initiative by Prime Minister Markus Söder (both CSU), it said. In Bavaria, the number of corona infections has long been the lowest in all of Germany, and the procedure is based on the example of Austria. Personal responsibility will increase in the future.

To protect against the transmission of infections with the corona virus, Bavaria, like other federal states, decided in April 2020 to wear mouth and nose covers in public. As the number of severe corona diseases subsided, the obligation was gradually withdrawn. Local public transport, where there are often crowds on buses and trains and physical contact among passengers, is still one of the last public situations in which masks are mandatory in Bavaria.

Bavarian Infection Protection Ordinance expires on December 9th

The obligation to wear masks in local public transport has always been a point of contention in the public debate, including in state politics. Most recently, the Free Voters had campaigned vehemently for the rapid abolition and insisted on the voluntariness for the citizens. Doctors, on the other hand, are of the opinion that the mask requirement should remain or even be expanded, since covering the mouth and nose not only protects against the transmission of corona viruses, but also against other viral diseases, such as the influenza viruses currently circulating or the RS virus children.

Weeks ago, Söder had last mentioned mid-December or the beginning of next year as conceivable dates – provided that the corona numbers remain “reasonably stable” and that there are no new mutations by then. Since the current version of the Bavarian Infection Protection Ordinance, which previously also regulated the obligation to wear a mask in local transport, expires on December 9th, a new regulation was necessary.

EVG boss is also critical of the obligation to wear masks

After the Bavarian decision to abolish the obligation to wear masks in local public transport, the head of the railway and transport union (EVG) is also critical of the regulation in long-distance transport. “The EVG calls for uniform regulations on the obligation to wear masks. Nobody can understand anymore why there is still an obligation to wear masks on long-distance trains,” said Martin Burkert of the German Press Agency. “If the regulation is retained, checks by the federal police, not by the railway staff, are required,” Burkert said.

The health ministers of the federal and state governments did not find a uniform course for the obligation to wear masks on buses and trains on Monday. 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.

Source: Stern

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