13 out of 16 federal states want to stick to the mask requirement in public transport at least in January and February. This was the result of a survey by the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (RND) among all 16 federal states. Many state health ministries referred to the burdened health system as justification, as the RND reported.
According to Hamburg, the mask requirement in local public transport should also help to prevent avoidable infections in the coming weeks. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and North Rhine-Westphalia justify maintaining the mask requirement with the desire to prevent further burdens on practices and clinics.
“An endemic phase is not a sufficient reason to suddenly drop all proven precautionary measures,” said a spokesman for the Berlin Senate Department for Health. In both Berlin and Brandenburg, the mask requirement in public transport could fall in mid-February. The Brandenburg government had agreed on Tuesday to extend the Corona regulation in the near future and to set a date for the end of the mask requirement.
The aim is to coordinate with as many federal states as possible. After the first talks with Berlin, the target is mid-February, it said. Lower Saxony and Bremen also want to keep the mask requirement for the time being. However, it was already agreed in December that the obligation would be abolished by March 1 in coordination with Lower Saxony, according to Bremen.
Thuringia has also announced that it wants to abolish the mask requirement in March – provided the situation does not deteriorate by then. Saxony wants to consult with hospitals and doctors at the beginning of January. So far, Schleswig-Holstein, Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt have abolished the obligation to wear masks in public transport.
