Berlin and Brandenburg: Public transport mask requirement in February tilt

Created: 01/03/2023Updated: 01/03/2023 5:18 p.m

A sticker on a glass door indicates wearing a mask.

© Felix Kästle/dpa/symbol image

In three federal states, the mask to protect against corona in buses and trains in local transport has already been abolished.

Now two countries could be added in February.

But that's not a done deal yet.

Potsdam – In Berlin and Brandenburg, the obligation to wear masks on buses and trains in local transport could be lifted in mid-February – both countries are proposing this.

The Brandenburg cabinet agreed on Tuesday to probably extend the Corona regulation next Tuesday (January 10) and to set a date for the end of the mask requirement in local public transport, said government spokesman Florian Engels on Tuesday in Potsdam on request.

"As Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) has repeatedly requested, this date should be coordinated with as many countries as possible," said Engels.

"After preliminary talks with the Berlin Senate Chancellery, mid-February is preferred." The Brandenburg State Chancellery will now turn to the other neighboring states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony and Lower Saxony with the proposal.

The Ministry of Health is now developing a draft, which will then be coordinated between the departments.

Berlin's Senate spokeswoman Lisa Frerichs confirmed the preliminary talks with the neighboring country.

On Tuesday, the topic will be discussed at the first Senate meeting in the new year.

The plan is to initially extend the current infection protection ordinance until mid-February - but not after that.

Berlin's Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) had repeatedly spoken out in favor of a solution that was as uniform as possible nationwide and close coordination with Brandenburg.

At the end of last year, Brandenburg's Prime Minister Woidke also called for a nationwide regulation for a possible end to the corona protection measures and warned against going it alone.

The virologist Christian Drosten had previously said in an interview with the “Tagesspiegel”, among other things, that in his opinion the pandemic was over and was becoming an endemic.

This triggered a debate about an end to the corona protection measures.

The current Brandenburg Corona Ordinance with an FFP2 mask requirement in public buses and trains in local transport is still valid until January 11th.

Masks are also required when visiting community accommodation for refugees and homeless people in closed rooms.

The corona isolation obligation still applies in Brandenburg.

Corona masks are mandatory nationwide for passengers in long-distance public transport and visitors to hospitals and nursing homes as well as doctor's offices until April 7th.

The rules could also be overturned earlier.

In three federal states, the mask is no longer mandatory in local public transport: in Bavaria, Saxony-Anhalt and also in Schleswig-Holstein since New Year's Day.

dpa