The wave of infections is rolling, but the obligation to wear a mouth and nose mask does not apply everywhere. Two federal states will abolish the obligation to wear masks in local public transport at the beginning of winter. A look at the map of Germany shows where the corona protection measure is no longer applicable - and how the number of cases is developing there.
The coronavirus pandemic seems to be over, the number of new infections at the beginning of winter 2022/23 is no longer rising as steeply as in the two previous years. State politicians in Saxony-Anhalt and Bavaria are taking the development as an opportunity to lift a well-established Corona requirement.
In local public transport (ÖPNV) in the two federal states, the obligation to wear a mouth and nose cover was dropped at the beginning of December. In buses and trains, passengers can thus do without the previously mandatory protective measure. Wearing a mask is now voluntary there and no longer required by law.
The ntv.de Germany map provides an overview of the mask requirement in local transport and shows the current development of the seven-day incidence in the federal states:
(click on map for more info)
Two federal states are thus presenting themselves as pioneers in the relaxation of the corona virus. In Saxony-Anhalt, the new regulation, which deviates from the nationwide uniform regulations, came into force on December 7th. The Free State of Bavaria followed on December 10th. The infection protection ordinance in force there was extended by a cabinet decision, and the obligation to wear a mask in local transport was removed at the same time.
This eliminates one of the simplest protective measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic in two of the 16 federal states. In Bavaria, the mask requirement came into force in April 2020. In the other parts of Germany, on the other hand, health politicians want to stick to the mask requirement in local transport - also because it is not yet foreseeable how the corona situation will develop in the third pandemic winter.
The obligation to wear a mask is "no longer proportionate," said Bavaria. The corona virus no longer accounts for the majority of viral diseases, said Bavaria's Health Minister Klaus Holetschek, explaining the decision of the CSU-led state government in Munich. Influenza and RS virus would have much higher proportions of the sick in hospitals.
"The infection situation has been stable for a long time," said Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder, referring to the corona situation. Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff from the CDU justified the decision, among other things, with the vaccination rate.
Both federal states recommend wearing a mask voluntarily. Well-fitting FFP2 masks not only protect against corona viruses and rhinoviruses, which cause simple but annoying colds, but also effectively against infections with more dangerous infectious diseases such as influenza (flu) or the RS virus. In long-distance transport, which is the responsibility of the federal government, the legal obligation to wear a mouth and nose cover continues to apply.
