The Berlin Senator for Health, Gote, wants to propose to the Senate that masks be made compulsory indoors. This would affect retail, museums and other publicly accessible buildings. School children from class five onwards should then need a surgical mask again.
Berlin’s Health Senator Ulrike Gote wants to propose to the Senate next week to reintroduce a mask requirement indoors. This is reported by the “Tagesspiegel”. This should apply again from now on, especially in retail, in museums and public buildings, said the Green politician at a press conference.
Gote is planning to make surgical masks compulsory in the interior spaces mentioned. However, the obligation to wear an FFP2 mask in local public transport should remain in place. Gote gave the “very heavy burden on hospitals from the autumn wave” as a reason. This was expected, but the development is now going much faster than hoped. “We expect the number of hospitalizations to double within 16 days,” Gote said.
According to the “Tagesspiegel”, there could also be a mask requirement again in schools from the fifth grade, as well as in daycare centers for the staff. According to the senator, the facilities should be able to decide for themselves depending on the infection process. Ultimately, however, the education administration of Senator Astrid-Sabine Busse is responsible for this. Gote emphasized: “We carefully weigh up the health protection of young people against the right to education. The infection control measures also have consequences, especially for young people.”
Gote cited the heavy burden on hospitals as one of the main reasons for calling the second stage of the pandemic plan for the fall. According to the current situation report by the Senate Health Administration, there are currently 902 people in inpatient treatment who (also) tested positive for the corona virus. 64 of them are in intensive care units – 37 of them are mechanically ventilated, three are attached to an artificial lung. The Green politician described the corona situation in the intensive care units as “still relatively relaxed”.
On Tuesday, the Senate decided on a Corona winter timetable. In doing so, he had also created the conditions for the reintroduction of the obligation to wear masks and compulsory testing in schools should the corona situation deteriorate again. According to the “Tagesspiegel”, Gote now named a triad of goals: avoiding overloading the health system, ensuring care in schools, daycare centers and critical infrastructure and protecting vulnerable groups.
