Return of mandatory masks and 3G Preparations for possible Corona rules from autumn

Düsseldorf · Germany does not follow the EU: passengers still have to wear mouth-nose protection on planes to and from Germany. The health ministers are now demanding that the federal government prepare for the autumn. Then new rule tightenings may come.

 A man sits in the metro wearing an FFP2 mask.

A man sits in the metro wearing an FFP2 mask.

Foto: dpa/Christoph Soeder

Many people feel that the pandemic is over, but in fact it is far from it. Thousands of people are still falling ill every day in North Rhine-Westphalia. At the same time, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) warned at the weekend against a return of the delta variant, which leads to more severe courses than the omicron variant. "The corona pandemic is not over yet. We must not be deceived by the current declining incidences," said the chairperson of the Conference of Health Ministers, Petra Grimm-Benne from Saxony-Anhalt, after a call with her colleagues on Monday. The federal government is now to draw up a "master plan", as is also demanded by the panel doctors, and coordinate it with the Länder so that they are prepared for the autumn. Lauterbach announced a corresponding plan.

Mandatory masks in traffic

The federal and state governments have abandoned almost all protective measures; masks are increasingly disappearing from the road scene. Since Monday, the EU has allowed the 27 member states to lift the obligation to wear masks in means of transport, including aeroplanes. However, Germany does not want to follow this relaxation. Thus, the mask requirement is to be retained on all flights that take off or land in Germany. People will have to wear the mask on planes as well as in airports. The mask is also to remain on buses and trains, although Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) would have preferred otherwise. In clinics and nursing homes, the mask is still compulsory anyway.

Mandatory masks indoors

Germans must be prepared for this to return in the autumn. "We will have a good summer. In autumn, the number of cases will rise again. I assume that measures like compulsory masks will return in winter - at least in public spaces and indoors, where keeping your distance is difficult," Hamburg infectiologist Marylyn Addo told our editorial team. Admittedly, it is not possible to impose a nationwide duty under the current Infection Protection Act. But it expires on 23 September. Now the ministers are asking the federal government to start a legislative process for new rules. This should also make it possible to make masks compulsory again in indoor areas such as shops, official buildings and schools. NRW Minister Karl-Josef Laumann had always regretted the end of mandatory masks indoors.

3G rule

In Germany, the rule has already been abolished for weeks. Now Austria is following suit. Holidaymakers can now enter the Alpine country again without having to prove that they have been vaccinated, recovered or tested. But in winter, the 3G rule could return in Germany for certain areas - also a 2G rule, according to which a negative test is not enough, but people must have recovered or been vaccinated. Lauterbach is now said to be making preparations for these rules as well.

(Original text: Antje Höning; Translation: Mareike Graepel)
Meistgelesen
Neueste Artikel
Zum Thema
Aus dem Ressort