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COVID-19 RULES

Several German states to drop Covid masks on public transport in February

A number of German states are set to remove mandatory masks on public transport at the start of February, while the Health Minister has indicated that masks on long-distance trains could end sooner than expected.

Published: 11 January 2023 11:20 CET
Covid masks mandatory isolation
A Covid mask hanging on a window during self-isolation. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Zacharie Scheurer

Berlin, Brandenburg, Thuringia, Saxony and Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania will end the obligation to wear a medical mask on public transport in the coming weeks. 

Wearing an FFP2 mask on public transport is one of the few remaining Covid-19 rules that Germany has kept in place, though the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and right-wing CDU/CSU parties have in recent weeks been pushing for an end to the measure.

With many experts declaring an end to the pandemic, states have also been moving in their own direction, with Bavaria, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein all removing the mask-wearing rule and another group of states – including Baden-Württemberg and Lower Saxony – opting to amend their self-isolation guidelines. 

READ ALSO: Will Covid measures end sooner than expected in Germany?

In addition to scrapping compulsory masks on public transport, Thuringia is set to follow this group of five states in ending compulsory self-isolation for people who test positive for Covid. Both isolation and mask-wearing on local buses and trains will end in the eastern state on February 3rd. 

In Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania, the federal cabinet decided on Tuesday to end the obligation to wear masks in public transport. The rule will be dropped on February 2nd – the same time that Berlin and Brandenburg are planning to drop masks on local buses, trams and trains. 

Following consultations with experts, Saxony’s cabinet also agreed on an end to the compulsory wearing of masks in local public transport, which will come into force on Monday. Instead, the wearing of a mask in buses and trains will be “strongly recommended”.

“Covid protection measures may only be justified with corona-related overloads of the health system,” said Saxony’s Health Minister Petra Köpping (SPD). “Many pandemic indicators are currently painting a positive picture.”

READ ALSO: When will German states drop compulsory masks on public transport?

Masks could end ‘sooner than expected’

Under the current version of the Infection Protection Act, masks will be compulsory on long-distance public transport like coaches and ICE trains until at least April 7th, though states can decide for themselves whether to keep them on local or regional transport. 

However, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) told Stern on Wednesday that an early end to compulsory masks in long-distance transport and in health care facilities could be possible.

“It is possible that we will abolish the mask requirement earlier,” he explained. “But I don’t want to commit myself to a date.” Lauterbach said it was important to observe the situation very closely and then evaluate it.

READ ALSO: Calls to end Covid measures as top German virologist declares pandemic ‘over’

“It is still too early,” he added. “We still have full clinics and staff shortages.”

Though the current version of the Infection Protection Act doesn’t expire until April, the federal government could still change the rules by decree.

Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) urged Lauterbach to use this mechanism to end the current Covid measures in a letter sent to his office at the end of December. 

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COVID-19 RULES

Germany to repeal last protective measures against Covid-19

Three years after Germany introduced a series of protective measures against the coronavirus, the last are set to be repealed on Friday.

Published: 6 April 2023 10:42 CEST
Germany to repeal last protective measures against Covid-19

The remaining restrictions – or the requirement to wear a mask in surgeries, clinics and nursing homes – are falling away a couple of days after German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) made an announcement that the Covid-19 pandemic is “over.”

“We have successfully managed the pandemic in Germany,” said Lauterbach at a press conference on Wednesday.

In light of low infection numbers and virus variants deemed to be less dangerous, Germany has been steadily peeling away the last of its longstanding measures. 

READ ALSO: Germany monitoring new Covid variant closely, says Health Minister

The obligation to wear a mask on public transport was lifted on February 2nd. 

During the height of the pandemic between 2020 and 2021, Germany introduced its strictest measures, which saw the closure of public institutions including schools and daycare centres (Kitas).

“The strategy of coping with the crisis had been successful overall,” said Lauterbach, while also admitting: “I don’t believe that the long school closures were entirely necessary.”

Since the first coronavirus cases in Germany were detected in January 2020, there have been over 38 million reported cases of the virus, and 171,272 people who died from or with the virus, according to the Robert Koch Institute. 

Voluntary measures

In surgeries and clinics, mask rules can remain in place on a voluntary basis – which some facilities said they would consider based on their individual situations. 

“Of course, practices can stipulate a further obligation to wear masks as part of their house rules, and likewise everyone can continue to wear a mask voluntarily,” the head of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV), Andreas Gassen, told DPA.

But Gassen said it was good there would no longer be an “automatic obligation”, and that individuals could take the responsibility of protecting themselves and others into their own hands. 

READ ALSO: Is the pandemic over in Germany?

“Hospitals are used to establishing hygiene measures to protect their patients, even independently of the coronavirus,” the head of the German Hospital Association (DKG), Gerald Gaß, told DPA.

With the end of the last statutory Covid measures, he said, we are entering “a new phase” in dealing with this illness. 

“Hospitals will then decide individually according to the respective situation which measures they will take,” he said, for example based on the ages and illnesses of the patients being treated.

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