Falling infection numbers and low incidences in Bavaria mean that many citizens want the mask requirement to be abolished.
But the government is reluctant.
Munich - In Bavaria the handle is now quite natural
Before you set off, in addition to your wallet, cell phone and handbag, you also need the FFP2 mask *.
The strict mask requirement has accompanied the people in the Free State since the beginning of the year.
Many have come to terms with it - but the call for abolition - also due to the low incidence values * - is getting louder and louder in Bavaria.
CSU state government adheres to the FFP2 mask requirement
Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) also got the ball rolling - in addition to many demands from the population.
He told the Funke Media Group newspapers on Monday that he thought the time had come to put an end to the mask requirement.
As a first step, he named not using mouth and nose protection outdoors.
In regions “with a very low incidence and a high vaccination rate”, the mask requirement can be ended “gradually” indoors.
Numerous politicians and virologists joined the canon.
Spahn speaks of the end of a simple, clinical mask in everyday life and not of the stricter rule that applies almost everywhere in Bavaria to wearing an FFP2 mask. And when you hear the Bavarian politicians talking about the topic - at least those of the CSU * - then it looks bleak, with an imminent abolition. State chief Markus Söder * said on Monday at a press conference: “I am a little surprised about the federal government.” The federal government makes “without any jurisdiction” proposals for an area for which the federal states are responsible.
And his health minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) wants to continue to adhere to the FFP2 mask requirement.
"I can see that there is already a kind of competition going on to find out who can make a statement on the subject faster and more often," he noted at a press conference on Monday.
But it is also clear that “we have a delta mutation” and that it is much more contagious.
Bavaria therefore continues on the course of caution.
In addition, major easing has recently been announced.
FFP2 mask compulsory should fall in schools - the free voters are also in favor
Holetschek is right about the easing. The mask can be dispensed with in many areas of everyday life. Be it during sport or while eating in a restaurant. In many outdoor areas - for example in the zoo - the obligation has largely been lifted. It is therefore hardly surprising that more and more parents are calling for schools to be abolished as well.
The Family Initiative writes in a press release: "Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren all over Bavaria can breathe worse for seven or more hours a day." Schools to forego FFP2 masks. In primary schools, the obligation should be completely irrespective of the incidence. And outdoors anyway. "It cannot be that we have to move lessons to the nearest pub so that the children can take off their masks."
This demand is borne by the politicians of the Free Voters. Minister of Education Michael Piazolo had already brought the lifting of the FFP2 mask requirement on the square and in the open a few days ago. It only makes sense in the school building. “The prerequisite for this is an incidence that is well below 50.” This is also how his party leader Hubert Aiwanger sees it. However, the CSU has so far made no move to want to change anything in the regulation. The state government will meet again today, Tuesday, to talk about the Corona situation in Bavaria. It is rather unlikely that a decision will be made to relax the mask requirement.
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