The draft of the new Infection Protection Act will be changed again. According to information from WELT, the mask requirement on flights within Germany and from destinations to and from the Federal Republic should be eliminated. The FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag had urged the party and parliamentary group leaders of the SPD and Greens as well as Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) for a corresponding change.
The previous draft for an amendment to the Infection Protection Act provided for an obligation to wear an FFP2 mask on airplanes and in long-distance rail traffic. According to the currently valid rules, a surgical mask is sufficient. In many EU countries, wearing a mask on board an aircraft has already been abolished.
The discussion about the obligation to wear masks on airplanes picked up speed when members of the delegation of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) did not wear masks on board a government plane to Canada.
In this context, the federal government referred to a different legal situation for air force flights. In addition, the fellow travelers were PCR-tested. Politicians from the opposition and the FDP criticized this as a double standard.