Health ministers want to keep mask requirements and travel rules

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Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU)

Photo: Britta Pedersen / dpa

The federal and state health ministers want to continue to adhere to the mask requirement - and also to the general test requirement for air travelers beyond the holiday season.

"At the moment it's also about protecting not only yourself, but also others," said Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) after a meeting with his colleagues from the federal states.

Furthermore, not enough people are vaccinated, so caution is still required.

Outside, the mask is no longer necessary in many places, according to Spahn, except "when you stand tightly packed" - but indoors he still considers wearing mouth and nose protection to be sensible. In schools in particular, where many children come together who cannot yet be vaccinated, the mask requirement must continue. The health minister hopes that the education ministers of the federal states will find a uniform rule after the summer holidays. "Masks are annoying," says Spahn, "but compared to everything else, a fairly simple and tolerable measure."

Bavaria's Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) also advocated the continuation of the mask requirement: "Better to keep the mask on a little longer than stumble into another wave that could have been prevented." Holetschek assumes that in some buildings and in public Local passenger transport the mask requirement "maybe even beyond autumn" will remain in place.

Rules for returning travelers until at least mid-September

Corona measures should also continue to exist for holiday travelers, according to Spahn at least until mid-September - i.e. until the end of the main travel season. Air travelers from abroad must continue to have themselves tested before departure to Germany, as the Conference of Health Ministers decided. In road and rail traffic, there will also be more controls in the border area. The quarantine rules for returnees from high-risk and high-incidence areas with high numbers of infections and from areas with new virus variants should remain in place.

The federal states also want to maintain nationwide rapid tests twice a week in schools and daycare centers. The federal and state governments want to develop a concept over the summer so that free citizen tests can also be continued in autumn and winter if necessary. Companies are to be obliged to continue to regularly offer test offers to employees working in presence until the end of September.

Particular attention should be paid to the long-term consequences of the pandemic for children and young people.

According to initial studies, many felt psychologically stressed, said Bavaria's Minister of Health Holetschek.

"Children must not become corona losers through lockdown and protective measures." The Ministerial Conference therefore asks the Bundestag to set up a commission.

The aim is, among other things, a report on the late and long-term consequences of the corona protective measures and Covid-19 diseases in children.

The ministers also spoke out in favor of developing a concept for the future of the vaccination centers in the next few weeks.

Their funding by the federal government is initially secured until September 30th.

mrc / dpa