From October, the federal states will be free to impose mask requirements indoors. This is the concept of Ministers Lauterbach and Buschmann. The latter emphasizes that he would prefer not to take any more corona measures at all. But he has no choice.
Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann has defended the proposed corona protection concept for autumn and winter with possible mask requirements indoors. “I would prefer if we didn’t need any more measures at all,” said the FDP politician to “Bild am Sonntag”. “However, many scientists – including critical ones – assume that the health system will be under a great deal of stress.” It shouldn’t become an overload. “Therefore we want to work with the mildest means. That’s the mask.”
Buschmann and Health Minister Karl Lauterbach presented the concept on Wednesday. Your draft for the Infection Protection Act provides that the federal states may again impose mask requirements from October. A mask requirement in buses, trains and planes should therefore continue to apply nationwide, as well as a mask and test requirement in hospitals and care facilities. The federal states should decide for themselves whether they also require masks in publicly accessible indoor areas.
There is a lot of criticism of the plan to exempt people from wearing masks in restaurants or at cultural and sporting events if their vaccination is not older than three months. In addition, there should be exceptions for tested and newly recovered people. “The exceptions to the mask requirement indoors are intended to give operators more leeway for entrepreneurial responsibility,” emphasized Buschmann. “An operator can, for example, organize a public viewing indoors for the World Cup and only let in visitors with tests, so that there is normality at the event without a mask with a very low risk. Because the domiciliary rights of each operator allow him, even from only a part of the exceptions or not to make use of any exception at all.”
The Minister of Justice emphasized that this also shows that the draft law does not contain a so-called 3G access rule (access only for vaccinated, recovered and tested people). “On the contrary: We even want to delete the legal basis for this under the hotspot rule, which is still in force today.”
