Doctors’ representatives are in favor of maintaining the mask requirement. This is once morest the federal government, which is planning an end for March 20th. Masks are also controversial in court.
In view of the increasing number of corona infections, medical representatives are calling for one Mask requirement indoor public spaces beyond March 20. “Wearing masks is a proven and simple protective measure. It would be a mistake to give up this means without need,” said the President of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (Two), Gernot Marx, the Funke media group (Saturday edition).
A mask enables you to protect yourself and others effectively once morest infection. “The federal states should therefore in any case maintain the mask requirement in public interiors following March 20,” said Marx. “Where many people come together in a small space, wearing masks should be a matter of course. Even where it is not mandatory, we recommend everyone to wear a mask.”
High infection numbers as a reason
The medical officers are also calling for the mask requirement to be maintained. “As long as the number of infections is as high as it is now, we should stick to important protective measures,” said Elke Bruns-Philipps, Vice President of the Federal Association of Doctors in the Public Health Service (BVÖGD), to the Funke newspapers. “This includes distance rules and hygiene measures, but above all wearing masks wherever you can’t keep your distance.”
Bruns-Philipps called on the federal states to initially adhere to the mask requirement not only on buses and trains, but “also in retail, in authorities or public institutions”.
Fear of a patchwork of rules
Several federal states had criticized the government draft. North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) spoke of an emerging patchwork of rules. The Bavarian Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (Saturday): “Should the law come regarding, we will maneuver into a political inability to act in a very critical phase of the pandemic.” The basic protection measures are insufficient and due to technical errors in the draft law, it is not possible for the federal states to find their own regulations in a timely manner.
Holetschek told the “Augsburger Allgemeine” (Saturday): “The federal government really needs to make improvements and should extend the measures nationwide by another two or three months and not shift the responsibility to the federal states while the infection situation is getting worse.”
Court overturns mask requirement in bars
According to a draft by the traffic light coalition, following March 20, masks will only be compulsory in nursing homes, clinics and in local and long-distance public transport. If the corona situation worsens regionally, the federal states can also introduce stricter rules, such as far-reaching mask requirements, by parliamentary decision.
The obligation to wear masks in clubs, discos and shisha bars in Lower Saxony has been temporarily suspended by the Higher Administrative Court (OVG). This was announced by the court in Lüneburg on Friday. The operator of a nightclub in Osnabrück opposed this regulation. The court decided that the regulations were not a necessary protective measure within the meaning of the Infection Protection Act and were also not appropriate. The decision is final.
