Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Corona expert: Too early to waive the public transport mask requirement

Relaxation of corona measures are currently an increasing topic.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Corona expert: Too early to waive the public transport mask requirement

Relaxation of corona measures are currently an increasing topic. According to the Corona expert Lars Kaderali, the basic way is correct. But certain loosening would be premature.

Greifswald (dpa / mv) - According to the Corona expert Lars Kaderali, it would be too early to eliminate the mask requirement on buses and trains. "Basically, this is the right way to get back to normal handling like other respiratory pathogens," said the member of the Federal Government's Corona Expert Council of the German Press Agency. The question is "whether now in winter, when a wave is likely to come our way, is the right time, or whether you don't prefer to do it when the wave flattens out in spring".

There are certainly arguments for the omission, such as a higher level of immunity in the population after corona waves in summer and autumn. However, the fact that one does not yet know how strong the expected winter wave will be speaks against it. Recently, there has been increasing discussion about an early end to the mask requirement in local public transport, but also in long-distance transport.

Kaderali is also critical of the lifting of the obligation to isolate at this point in time. You have to come back to personal responsibility, so that sick people stay at home even without laws. But here, too, timing is crucial. "At the moment I think it's too early." Corresponding announcements by federal states would have surprised him. This had not previously been discussed in the Federal Council of Experts either. "It came from politics." Several federal states had decided that people infected with corona no longer had to isolate themselves and had already implemented this in some cases.

With a view to the current infection process, Kaderali said: "The situation is relaxed at the moment." The numbers are still declining. The number of corona patients in the hospitals is falling significantly. Wastewater measurements, which usually reveal trends earlier than the test statistics, did not show any trend reversal either.

Nevertheless, Kaderali expects the numbers to rise again around the turn of the year. "Not until March, April." According to the scientist, this could be due to the colder temperatures and the new omicron subline BQ.1.1. Although it has already arrived in Germany, its distribution is currently still at a low level.