In local transport, the mask requirement is already history in many federal states – the demands for an adjustment of the regulation in long-distance transport are growing. Now the Minister of Health is reacting.
The mask requirement in long-distance public transport should fall on February 2nd. This was announced by Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) on Friday in Berlin. The Federal Government can suspend the measure in whole or in part by statutory order. “We just have to rely more on personal responsibility and voluntariness,” said Lauterbach.
The demands for an early end to the mask requirement have recently become louder, within the federal government the FDP in particular insisted on it. According to the Infection Protection Act, the obligation to wear a mask in long-distance traffic should last until April 7th.
The train service should be voluntary
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) said on Wednesday that the end had to come “as soon as possible” and also referred to the burden on railway staff due to the control of the Corona measure. Deutsche Bahn also spoke out this week for an early end to the mask requirement in long-distance transport. Similar to air transport, long-distance trains should also be voluntary, it said.
The Greens health expert Janosch Dahmen justified the planned end of the mask requirement. “The mask is still a useful protection, but at the end of the pandemic we can turn the obligation into a recommendation,” said the member of the Bundestag on Friday of the German Press Agency. The step is the right one, since a patchwork of different mask rules is neither effective nor realistic, he explained with a view to the foreseeable lifting of the mask requirement in local transport in several federal states.
Dahmen emphasized: “However, it still makes medical sense if people act responsibly regardless of mandatory requirements and generally wear a mask in closed rooms during the remaining weeks of winter.” A further burden on the healthcare system would currently be irresponsible given the immense shortage of skilled workers.
Lauterbach had not ruled out the end of the mask requirement
Lauterbach had recently not ruled out a premature end to the mask requirement in long-distance transport and in health facilities. “It may well be that we will abolish the mask requirement earlier,” the SPD politician told the “Stern” without setting a date.
In local public transport, the mask requirement has already been abolished in Bavaria, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein. Berlin, Brandenburg, Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony and Baden-Württemberg plan to lift it by the beginning of next month at the latest.
After February 2nd, the mask requirement only applies in clinics, nursing homes, medical practices and other health facilities.
Source: Stern
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